


Thunderstruck

by la_muerta



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sports, F/F, F/M, M/M, Motorcycle Racers AU, Permanent Injury, Street Racing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:26:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23787055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/la_muerta/pseuds/la_muerta
Summary: Jace and Alec were once world champion motorcycle racers, but an accident forces both of them into retirement. Alec swore he would never get on a bike again - until their chief engineer Izzy gets wind of a talented illegal street racer who could put them back in the competition.
Relationships: Clary Fray/Jace Wayland, Isabelle Lightwood/Maia Roberts, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 298
Kudos: 477





	1. Chapter 1

Alec could smell the approaching storm, even above the ever-present stench of burning rubber, motor oil, and sun-baked tarmac. He squinted up at the grey skies and frowned. If it rained mid-race, they’d have to make a pit stop to change to their wet-weather bikes, and he disliked the disruption to his momentum. 

“Aw, man, scowling at the sky ain't gonna change the weather,” Jace said with a laugh, slapping him hard on the back. “Ready to rock the track?”

“Ready whenever you’re done smiling and posing for photos with your hordes of fangirls,” Alec replied.

“Shut up, Izzy is still fussing over the bikes anyway,” Jace said.

“As if we would be winning any races without her ‘fussing’,” Alec shot back.

Izzy was their chief engineer and every bike they rode out on the track was designed by her and assembled under her watchful eye. Despite being the youngest racers on the track at the age of 23, Jace and Alec had been the top racers in the MotoGP World Championship for two years running, sweeping the top two spots at all of the nineteen Grand Prix races, but a lot of it had to do with the powerful machines Izzy built. The three of them had always made a great team.

When they got back to their pit box, Izzy was indeed making the final round of checks on their bikes, both the usual ones and their wet-weather versions. Alec and Jace put in their earplugs and pulled on their helmets, and it was time to roll out their bikes for the 30-minute warm-up. Their bikes and leathers were all in striking black, white, and silver, and emblazoned with the logos of their various sponsors, but the most prominent logo was of course of Lightwood Engineering, the family business. 

While the bikes they used in the races were one-of-a-kind prototypes and not meant to be eventually mass-produced in the factories and put up for sale, Lightwood Engineering also made engines for automobiles, all-terrain vehicles, outboard marine engines, and specialised military vehicles, and it was good publicity for the company that their motorcycles were always top-of-the-line machines equipped with the latest tech, and that the racing and engineering team were headed by the successors of the company. For Alec at least, he’d always known that racing was a fun hobby that he got to indulge in for a while until it was time for him to formally take up the reins of the company, with Izzy as his head of research and development and Jace as… well, Jace wanted to keep on racing until he was old and bent, but hopefully he’d help out here and there.

It was the final day of the Grand Prix de France held at the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans, and only the fifth Grand Prix this season. Jace was obviously taking the warm-up rounds easy, meandering around the track at a leisurely pace, already cock-sure that he was going to win the race, but Alec wasn't letting his guard down. Both of them had sailed through the qualifying rounds, but a new racer from their rival company Circle Motor Industries had been right on their tail, and he’d been pretty close in the previous races this season as well. Alec didn’t know much about him other than that he was the son of Valentine Morgenstern, Circle Motor’s CEO, and he’d seen him trying to strike up a conversation with Jace before the warm-ups. 

The announcer called for them to take their places on the grid based on their qualifying results. Jace was in first and Alec was in second, and in third place, to Alec's right and the last space on their row, was Jonathan Morgenstern in his black, red, and orange leathers. Alec tried to shake off his unease and keep his mind on the race, but he knew he was gripping the handlebars of his bike with a little more tension than usual as he watched the lights in the front that would signal the start of the race. Overhead, thunder rumbled. 

" _...and they're off_! Herondale with an excellent start and Lightwood and Morgenstern hot on his heels..."

Twenty-seven laps. Twenty-one riders. In the top division race, nobody was a pushover, but Jace had already carved out a significant lead for himself by the sixth lap. Even though both Lightwood bikes were custom-made to play to their strengths and counter their disadvantages, and both of them practised hard, pushing each other to be their best until their motorcycles were like extensions of themselves, Jace was usually the one who took the top spot. It wasn't just his natural talent but that he was more likely to resort to risky tactics to win the race, and that gave Alec all the more reason to hang back a little and watch Jace's back, heading off anyone who might try to challenge Jace for the top spot and tempt Jace into doing something stupid. Morgenstern was proving to be tricky, though, and Alec was only just keeping him in check.

Then, midway through the ninth lap, Jace suddenly wobbled alarmingly, slowed down, and pulled up at the side of the track. Alec didn't stop - he'd be letting the whole team down if he let Morgenstern win just because Jace had a stomachache or something - but Alec had been plenty distracted. He didn’t see most of what happened after that, and couldn’t bring himself to watch the videos afterwards, but all he heard was a loud bang somewhere behind him. He glanced backwards and was just in time to see someone else’s bike flip and land right on top of Jace, who had already been lying motionless on the ground.

The other rider had flown clear off his bike and was lying a few feet away, while Jace’s bike on its side and in the sand. The flag marshal was desperately waving a red flag to stop the race, and the rest of the riders were gradually slowing down, but Alec didn’t care about all of that. He flung his bike to the side and sprinted towards Jace, wrenching his helmet off his head as he ran. 

"Jace!" Alec yelled.

Some of the other riders had gotten to Jace first and were trying to shift the bike off him carefully. Alec got to his brother only to realise that there was nothing he could do but wait helplessly for the medics to arrive. He didn't even dare to take off Jace's helmet, and he couldn't tell if Jace was dead or alive. He ran a hand through his hair and clenched his fist, needing the slight pain of it to keep him in focus.

"What happened? Did anyone see what happened?" he demanded. 

"Verlac must've lost control and slammed right into Herondale when he was getting off his bike," someone replied. "Helluva freak accident, man."

Alec looked up, scanning the crowd that was gathered around. Jonathan Morgenstern was hanging back, just leaning against his bike and watching from a distance, and when he saw Alec glaring at him, he gave him a mocking little salute before rolling his bike away. 

**—TWO YEARS LATER—**

“You’re not listening to me at all, Raj. I said I wanted it next week," Alec said through gritted teeth. He tapped the tabletop with his pen impatiently as his employee made more stupid excuses. "Look, I really don't care about your love life or lack thereof. I want that sales report on my desk on Monday or you're fired."

Alec cut the call, then ran a hand over his face before turning back to the email to a client that he'd been trying to write for the last hour. He'd only just finished reading through what he'd written and had typed all of one word when there was a knock on the door. Alec growled in frustration. 

“Yeah, come in, whatever."

“Wow, someone’s a fucking ray of sunshine today,” Jace said as he attempted to squeeze his wheelchair in through the door of Alec’s office.

Alec got to his feet hurriedly to hold the door open for his brother, but resisted the urge to help Jace with his chair, knowing from experience that Jace got touchy about it. Heck, Izzy had gone and installed a pretty strong motor for Jace's wheelchair that was driven by hand controls, but Jace didn't use them most of the time, claiming that it made him feel geriatric. 

"How was PT today?" Alec asked, moving one of the chairs in front of his desk aside to make way for Jace’s wheelchair. 

"Hurt like a bitch," Jace replied cheerfully. Alec knew that it meant that the session had gone well. 

Jace would probably never walk again. The injuries to his spinal cord meant that he no longer had enough feeling or control over his legs to support his weight on them, although they were ironically still functional enough for him to experience sharp jabs of pain and occasional spasms. Thankfully, he had retained pretty good sensation and control in his upper body, and he had somehow gotten it into his head that if he regained reliable control over his hands he could still be a racer with a modified bike and Izzy had agreed to the madness of building him a special bike. But it was the only reason why Jace was dutifully attending his physiotherapy sessions and had pulled himself out of the crushing depression that had overwhelmed him in the immediate aftermath of the accident, so Alec had decided not to say anything about it for now.

“I guess being boss-in-training isn’t working out for you today,” Jace noted.

Alec sighed. “It would work out better if I didn’t have to deal with so many idiots."

"Racing was simpler, huh? Just the feel of the bike underneath you, wind in your face, the thrill of the drop when you carve around a turn..."

Both of them went quiet. Alec hadn't been on a bike since Jace's accident either. After all, it was his fault that Jace had gotten hurt. If he'd stopped when Jace had pulled over, he'd have been able to protect Jace and get Jace out of the way when Sebastian Verlac had tried to run him down, or maybe Verlac would have lost his nerve and not gone through with his suicide mission. Alec had thrown out all his leathers and helmets, and he had asked Izzy to please trash all his old bikes and have them reduced to scrap metal because he couldn’t even stand the thought of going near one of them again. Since Jace couldn't ride his bike anymore, it was only fitting that Alec couldn't either, and he'd promised himself that he never would even though he did miss it sometimes. 

Someone knocked on the door again, and this time Alec was glad for the interruption. "Come in," he said, and Izzy breezed in. 

"Good, I thought I'd find both of you here," she said cheerfully, kissing both of them on the cheek in turn. 

“Have you told him?” Jace asked. 

Izzy shook her head. “I needed you for backup."

Alec raised an eyebrow at his siblings. “Tell me what?” he asked.

“Well, you’ve seen the state of our racing team,” Izzy said. “Racing season starts in about three months.”

Alec crossed his arms and scowled. This was the beginning of an argument he’d heard before, and he couldn’t believe Izzy was actually roping Jace in to convince him. “It takes time to build a team. They’ll get the hang of it."

“Alec, who are we kidding? They’re never going to beat Jonathan Morgenstern, no matter how much more they practice,” Jace said.

Alec pinched the bridge of his nose. Of course it was about Morgenstern. After the accident, Morgenstern had swept up the top spot at all the Grand Prix races that season, and the year after that as well, while Lightwood Engineering had taken a year away from the race track. Although they had never been able to prove that the Morgensterns were behind Jace’s accident, the circumstances had been very suspicious. Jonathan had offered Jace a mint before the race, and it must have been the thing that had made him dizzy halfway through the race even though they hadn't found any traces of unusual substances in Jace's blood and urine tests. Sebastian Verlac's tests had also been mostly clean, with just a bit of alcohol but not enough to explain why he'd basically tried to murder Jace. And since Verlac had died in the crash, there was no way of asking him why he'd done what he'd done, although rumours were that his mother had been very ill and needed money for medical treatment. 

Alec knew that Jace and Izzy were hoping that Lightwood Engineering would be returning to the racing scene with a bang to seize the top spot back from Morgenstern. But while their current racing team wasn't too bad, Alec could admit that his siblings were right that the riders were just missing a little something extra. They'd never beat Morgenstern in a million years. 

“Look, we should just forget about Morgenstern. What's the point of killing ourselves trying to beat him?” Alec said. 

“What the fuck are you talking about, beating him is the _only_ point,” Jace scoffed.

"Alec, we know that you love racing as much as Jace does," Izzy said gently. 

"Yeah, man. I mean, not like you need my permission, but if it makes you feel better, you have my permission to go back to racing. Beat the shit out of Morgenstern on my behalf," Jace agreed. 

"I'm not racing. It's been two years since I've been on a bike anyway, I'm probably going to be shit at it," Alec said stubbornly. 

"Nah, it's like, well, riding a bike. You'd get back into the groove in no time," Jace insisted. 

"I'm _not_ racing." 

Jace sighed. "I guess it's time for Plan B," he told Izzy. 

"You'd be ok with coaching, right?" Izzy asked.

Alec frowned. He could feel a catch somewhere. “Three months of me coaching won't make much of a difference."

"To the current riders on our team, yeah. But I was thinking of getting someone new," Izzy said.

"The guys on our team have been practising for months, and they are experienced racers. It'd be impossible to train up a newbie in three months, no matter how talented," Alec said.

"I wasn't thinking of a newbie. I was thinking of recruiting a street racer," Izzy replied.

"What? Are you nuts?" Alec snapped. “You want to risk the reputation of Lightwood Engineering on some lowlife hustler with no regard for the law?"

“Hey, don’t be so quick to judge. Why don’t you come with me to the race tonight? I heard that one of the guys who is racing tonight is really good,” Izzy said. “Watch the race with me and you can tell me later if it’d be nuts to try and recruit him."

“C’mon, bro. We’re not letting that fucking Morgenstern win,” Jace said, and although he was keeping his voice light, Alec had noticed that every time he talked about Morgenstern, his fingers dug into the armrest of his wheelchair so hard that his knuckles turned white.

“Ok, fine, just to take a look,” Alec relented.

\--

Alec knew Izzy often hung out on online racing forums, which was probably how she'd known where to watch the street race and who was racing tonight. But street racing was a very different beast from circuit racing on a proper track, and once they were alone and away from Jace, he told her as much.

"They're doing drag racing, right? Straight ahead, full acceleration. It's more about horsepower since most of these guys mod their own bikes," Alec said.

"No, this race is different. They're using a modified version of the Formula E track at Red Hook, so it's a circuit race," Izzy said.

Alec remained sceptical, but followed his sister to where a crowd was already gathered in front of a Chinese restaurant on the docks. There wasn't a lot of traffic here in the middle of the night, but this was New York, and the city never slept. Before the race started, some of the people here would block off the roads by strategically parking their cars to discourage people who weren't involved in the race from coming near, but the police would come if they caused too much of a disruption. Bookies were taking bets and supporters of the different racers were trash-talking each other at the top of their voices. 

Alec hunched his shoulders and pulled his cap a little lower. He didn’t want to be recognised, but he knew it might be a tall order. Unfortunately, Jace’s accident and Alec's subsequent retirement had been big news and it hadn't been long enough for people to forget about it. And although Alec was wearing a dark hoodie, baseball cap, and jeans like every other person here tonight, he tended to stick out because of his height, and Izzy was also attracting more than a fair bit of attention as one of the few women around. Thankfully, Izzy obligingly hung back with him and kept away from the bulk of the crowd even though he knew she was itching to go look at what modifications people had made to their bikes and talk shop with these people.

Alec didn't think much of the bikes he saw, though. He knew that a lot of them bought cheap bikes as a base before swapping out the stock parts for more powerful parts and there was more to the bikes than met the eye, but a lot the modifications were flashy things like LED underlights and ridiculously extended swingarms, things that made the rider look cool but didn't do much. Most of the bikes probably had small 10-ounce bottles hidden in the frames, fuel tanks, or air ducts, which contained nitrous oxide, an oxidising agent that burnt fuel faster and could give the racers a sudden boost of speed. It was a dirty trick that would lose a racer some respect even in the lawlessness of street racing. 

"That's him, I think," Izzy said, nudging her brother with her elbow. "He goes by the nickname 'Warlock'. Apparently he travels around the country challenging people to races, but he's based here in New York."

It was easy to spot the guy Izzy had come to see amongst all the riffraff. His bike was of Japanese make and didn't have a tacky custom paint job, which made it more difficult for the police to pick him out. He had his helmet on, so Alec couldn't see his face, but the crowd seemed to gravitate towards him and from what Alec could tell, he wasn't getting involved in the trash-talking. 

The spectators began to move to sidelines at the start line of the race, so Izzy and Alec followed the crowd. There were four racers, revving their engines and sending thick clouds of smoke into the sky while someone went to give the signal to block the roads. There were no cameras set up to follow the racers around the circuit, nothing that would leave evidence of the race in case it got anyone in trouble, so Alec supposed they would have to follow the racers around the circuit. He'd really been pampered with the high-def video playbacks of his races shot by professionals.

A flagman got up at the front. The racers folded their bodies tight around the tanks of their bikes. The flagman raised a hand, holding a cellphone, and turned the flashlight on.

Three bikes thundered off. The guy Izzy said was called ‘Warlock’ leaned back, making a show of stretching out his back, and Alec could feel the racer's smirk from where he was standing as he worked up the jeering and cheering crowd. When the rest of the racers were about halfway through the first lap, ‘Warlock’ leaned forward to grip his handlebars and took off like a rocket. Even with the headstart he’d given the rest, he caught up to them effortlessly. The Red Hook circuit was about half the length of a normal circuit and they were only doing five laps, but even in that short time, Alec could tell that ‘Warlock' was a natural. Sure, his bike was definitely far better than the rest, but he had that same instinct that Jace had for how far he could lean into the curves before he wiped out and the same control over his bike. But the grace with which he rode his bike made it look like some sort of dance, and if Alec was honest, with proper training he thought ‘Warlock’ would probably be an even better racer than Jace.

It was no surprise that ‘Warlock’ won the race, but as the spectators and bookies were sorting out the spoils, everyone heard the wail of police sirens. By the time the blue and red flashing lights came into view, everyone was running pell-mell back to their cars and bikes and zooming off into the night. 

“Quick, we’ve got to get hold of ‘Warlock’!” Izzy said urgently as they got into the car.

Alec tried his best to keep up, but they lost him in the traffic once they got on Hamilton Avenue. Izzy sighed in frustration, but on a hunch, Alec kept to the road; the illusive racer hadn’t taken the Interstate, so Alec thought he might still be in Brooklyn. Sure enough, Alec spotted the bike in his rearview mirror while he was driving into downtown Brooklyn. Alec turned into the first quiet street he found and stopped, giving ‘Warlock’ a chance to catch up, and sure enough, the bike pulled up next to their car. 

Alec and Izzy got out of the car, and ‘Warlock’ chuckled. “Well, that’s a surprise,” he said. "What have I done to earn the honour of being pursued by Alexander Lightwood?" 

Then he took off his helmet to reveal a handsome face with dark eyes accentuated by eyeliner, dark hair in a fauxhawk that had a streak of gold in it, and a wicked grin that made Alec's heart beat a little faster.

"Oh fuck," Alec muttered. 


	2. Chapter 2

There were no out queer racers in the MotoGP, but Alec Lightwood wasn’t exactly in the closet either. He just hadn't seen the point of talking about it and thankfully it had never come up in interviews. Besides, racing was a physically and mentally demanding occupation, and having started training for it when he was still in college, he’d had too many things going on to want to be distracted by the additional burden of maintaining a relationship. He'd indulged in a few hookups when he was racing professionally, but after Jace's accident, dating had been the last thing on his mind. 

'Warlock' was exactly the type of guy he'd have picked up at a bar, but this was the first time he'd met one who was a racer, and a fucking impressive one at that. 

"Do you know each other?" Izzy asked hopefully. 

"No, alas, but it's not hard to recognise the scion of Lightwood Engineering and the youngest champion racer in the MotoGP," 'Warlock' said cheerfully. 

"Second youngest," Alec corrected him automatically. Jace was four months younger than him. 

"Of course," 'Warlock' agreed lightly. Thankfully, he didn't try to offer empty condolences for what had happened to Jace. Instead, he turned his attention to Izzy and smiled at her. "And if I'm not wrong, you're Isabelle Lightwood, chief engineer at Lightwood Engineering."

Izzy beamed and nodded. "Well, since you know who we are, this makes things easier. We were watching you at the race just now, and want you on the Lightwood Engineering team for the upcoming MotoGP season."

Izzy had probably expected 'Warlock' to jump at the opportunity, but he just laughed and shook his head. "I'm flattered, but I'm not interested."

"What? Are you serious?" Izzy gasped. "We're talking a salary of at least $7 million every year, just for starters." 

"I make enough for my needs. I know forty grand per race might not sound like much to you, but I don’t pay taxes on that," he said with a wink. "I'd rather not be tied to a fixed competition and training schedule. Besides, it's not about the money."

"What?" Izzy turned to Alec for help. 

"It's about the race," Alec said, meeting the other racer's gaze in easy understanding. 

"Well, if it's about winning, I could make a bike for you that would put you right at the top of the competition, completely tailored to your needs and your racing style," Izzy said. 

He shrugged. "I already have a mechanic whom I’m comfortable working with. She’s very good.”

That had definitely been the wrong thing to say if ‘Warlock’ had been trying to get Izzy off his back, because that competitive streak ran strong in the Lightwood family and Izzy was just as bad as Jace. 

“But surely racing on a proper track is safer than racing on the streets! And you’d be insured of course, if you joined our team,” Izzy said. Alec thought she was missing the point - street racing was all about the adrenaline rush from the insane risk and added danger.

“You and I both know there’s no such thing as ‘safe’ in racing, darling,” 'Warlock’ said gently. “If I wanted safe, I’d sit in an office and make spreadsheets. But thanks for the offer.” He put his helmet back on and revved up his engine.

“Hey, wait. Can we at least get your name?” Alec blurted out.

‘Warlock’ hesitated. “We?” he asked coyly. Alec couldn’t see his face at all but he could hear a smile in his voice.

Alec huffed. “Ok, me. Can I get your name, please?”

“The name’s Magnus Bane,” he finally replied. He wriggled his fingers at them in a little wave, spun his bike around and zoomed off, and Alec knew that it would be impossible to catch up to him with their bulky car.

“Well, I guess that’s that,” Alec said with some regret, although probably for different reasons than his sister.

“Oh no, it’s not,” Izzy said stubbornly. “I’m going to hunt him down and convince him to join us. Whatever it takes.”

Alec sighed loudly and got back into the car, but he had to admit that maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing if Izzy managed to find him. 

\--

It took Izzy almost a week of trawling internet forums and hitting up every contact she had, but she finally got the name of a repair and servicing workshop where a guy matching the description of 'Warlock' and his bike had been spotted. 

"I don't see why I had to come along. There was a manufacturing report I was supposed to check before it went to Mom," Alec grumbled half-heartedly. The truth was, he’d been feeling restless sitting in his office since he’d watched the street race and he knew exactly why.

"He obviously liked you, so you're my bargaining chip," Izzy said, leading the way down a row of dodgy-looking auto repair shops in Brooklyn along Atlantic Avenue.

Most of them were pretty small, no bigger than someone's garage, and the mechanics who didn't even have the money to afford a shopfront and were squatting in dank alleys with a toolbox by their sides, touting dirt cheap repairs and modifications. Motorcycles, both whole and half-cannibalised for parts, were parked haphazardly along the road and spilt onto the pavement, and a few of their owners were hanging around smoking and watching the Lightwoods walk down the street. Alec was in his usual hoodie, baseball cap, and jeans combo, but without the cover of night to hide him, he was pretty sure that some of the people here had already recognised him. 

The shop Izzy was looking for turned out to be right at the end of the row. A guy was sitting on the curb in front of it working on a lime green bike and looked up warily when they stopped in front of him. "Can I help you?" he asked. 

"I'm looking for the owner of this shop. Um, Taki?" Izzy asked. 

The guy stood up. Alec didn't like the way he was griping his wrench or the way his gaze darted to Alec, sizing him up. "Think you've got the wrong place, Miss," he said flatly. 

"Easy, Bat. I know them," a familiar voice said, and Magnus walked out of the shop. 

In the clear light of day, Magnus looked even more unreal than Alec remembered. His hair was artfully tousled, eyeliner flawless. He had left off his jacket even though the weather was starting to get cold and he was wearing dark jeans with a black t-shirt that showed off the full-sleeve steampunk tattoos on both arms - of bright flowers blooming between chains, gears, and cogs. As he lifted the cigarette in one hand to his lips, the many rings on his fingers caught the afternoon sun.

“I heard that you’ve been asking around for me,” Magnus said, blowing the smoke to one side so it wouldn’t get in their faces. “Persistent, aren’t you?” He didn’t seem mad about it, though. And if he’d known that they were looking for him and didn’t want to be found, he’d probably have skipped town.

“Well, that day when we met you, I think I forgot to mention an important part of the deal - Alec will be the one coaching you,” Izzy said with a grin.

Magnus' lips twitched with a smile and he looked towards Alec. "Is that so?” 

Izzy elbowed Alec hard in the ribs and Alec scowled at her. “Yeah, I guess,” Alec muttered.

“Come in, let’s talk inside,” Magnus suggested, beckoning them in. “I think you should meet the mechanic I work with. She owns this shop - it’s named after her dog, by the way."

The inside of the shop smelled like motor grease and cigarettes. Magnus' bike was towards the back of the shop and a pretty girl with her hair tied away from her face with a red scarf was checking the brakes. She ignored them when they walked in.

“This is Maia. Maia, this is Alec and Isabelle Lightwood,” Magnus said. 

“Golly gee, Lightwoods in my humble shop? Should I curtsey?” Maia said sarcastically, not taking her eyes off the bike.

Alec raised an eyebrow but he supposed her reaction was fair since Izzy was trying to poach one of her customers. Izzy, on the other hand, was gearing up for a fight, and even Magnus could see that.

“Maia built my bike up from a Kawasaki ZX10R," Magnus said quickly. "It's served me very well."

"Yeah, we saw it in action. It's a good bike," Alec agreed. He sent Izzy a warning look - there was no call to be rude and pissing Magnus' friend off wasn't going to help their case, and Izzy knew that too if she could remember to keep her cool. 

"It's a good bike," Izzy grudgingly admitted, then unfortunately couldn't resist adding, "but it's still a far cry from the bikes _we_ make, of course."

Maia got to her feet, eyes blazing. "Oh, I'm sure the princess of Lightwood Engineering thinks she could do better, waltzing in with her perfect manicure and five-inch heels. When was the last time you actually touched an engine with your bare hands?"

"Just because I don't have to do it myself doesn't mean that I _can't_ do it," Izzy shot back. 

Maia snorted. "I'll believe it when I see it."

"Challenge accepted," Izzy replied impulsively. "And if I build a bike that's better than yours, Magnus will join the Lightwood racing team." 

“I don't remember agreeing to that," Magnus said with some amusement. 

“Hey, Iz, hold up. I'm sure there's a better way to do this," Alec protested. 

Both girls ignored them. “Let's make it a team effort - you two against me and Magnus,” Maia said. "We'll each build up a brand new bike from scratch, tailored to our racers, and in a month's time we'll race. If you win, I'll stop making bikes for Magnus, you can have him." 

"Fine! And we’ll go easy on you and make it a street race," Izzy snapped before Alec could respond. 

“Izzy!” Alec hissed, but Izzy just shushed him impatiently and started hashing out the details of her competition with Maia. 

Magnus walked over to his side, shaking his head. "They're not even listening to us," he observed, stubbing his cigarette in an ashtray on the counter and grabbing a black leather jacket that had been hanging off the back of a chair. "Take a walk with me?" 

Alec shrugged and nodded. 

There was a small triangular park just around the corner from Maia’s shop. This late in the year, the trees were in their fall colours, scattering gold and orange all over the ground. There was a water feature that doubled as a children’s play area in the middle of the park, a cluster of colourful concrete spheres that sprayed a mist of water at fixed intervals. There weren’t many people about in the middle of the day other than a few kids at the playground, and as they strolled along the quiet path, Alec relaxed. Outside of the circle of racing and motorcycle enthusiasts, not many people recognised him anyway.

“Hey, don’t mind Izzy, alright? I’ll think of something to make her leave you alone,” Alec said.

“Did you really agree to coach me?” Magnus asked instead.

Alec sighed. “She and Jace really want to win.”

Magnus shrugged. “I don’t blame them. It must be hard to stomach seeing Morgenstern strutting around after what he did. I know they didn’t manage to pin anything on him, but the Morgensterns have always had a bit of a reputation. But what about you? I don’t want to be presumptuous about your reasons for retiring from racing, but I don't think you made the decision lightly.”

“I don’t know. I think I owe it to Jace,” Alec said quietly, shoving his hands in his pockets. "My way of dealing with it has been to work harder on the business side of things, y’know, going head-to-head with Circle Motors whenever we’re bidding for projects and beating them to contracts. But I should have known that it wasn’t enough for Jace.”

“I watched that race when it aired live. For what it's worth, I don't think there was anything you could have done to stop the accident. Maybe you'd have gotten hurt as well,” Magnus said. 

Alec shook his head. There was no point trying to explain; people told him all the time that it wasn't his fault, including Jace, but they hadn’t been there on the track helplessly watching the bike land on his brother. His mom had convinced him to see a psychiatrist after the accident, and a part of him understood that this was survivor’s guilt, but logic didn’t come into play here. 

"I'm not completely opposed to racing for Lightwood Engineering if it's to get back at Jonathan Morgenstern," Magnus offered. 

"Shit, really?" Alec said in surprise. 

"Just this once, and just for this season," Magnus clarified. “It won’t hurt my rep as a street racer, but I don't want to damage my working relationship with Maia.”

“Ok, I get that. I don’t think she’ll let it go even if I apologise, though. Hell, Izzy isn’t going to let this go.”

“No, it’s too late for that,” Magnus agreed, settling down on a bench. “We might have to go through with this race before we can move on to a productive negotiation.”

Alec nodded absently. Coaching was one thing, but getting on a bike and racing again? Putting aside the issue that if Alec got caught he could get the company in a lot of trouble and his mom would probably murder him, and even if he knew Jace would be behind him one-hundred-percent, he’d made a promise to himself that he wasn’t going to touch a bike again. He sat down next to Magnus, clenching his hands together while he thought it over. Surely it would be ok to indulge in it, just this once, to get Magnus on their team.

“I’ll do it.”

Magnus smiled and stuck out a hand for Alec to shake. “Then I look forward to the pleasure of racing against Alexander Lightwood.”

Alec smiled back and shook Magnus’ hand. It was very warm in contrast to the cold, and they might both have held on a little bit longer than was strictly necessary.

\--

“You’ve both been working your asses off, of course I want to be there,” Jace said a few days before the race. “We can find an excuse to take Mom’s car, the one with the tinted windows.” 

Alec was too out of breath to reply him at first, having just completed a five-hour workout involving weights training, cycling, plank crunches and side rotations for core strength, burpees, box jumps, and ab twists. Even though Magnus had already tentatively agreed to join their racing team, a race was a race and it’d really be easier for the Lightwoods if Alec won the race outright. Unfortunately, while Alec had kept reasonably fit in the two years that he had quit racing, he definitely wasn’t in the right condition to be winning any races, and it had been hell jumping back into the disciplined training and strict low-carb and lean-protein diet so suddenly in an attempt to get in shape in one month. Jace had offered to “help”, so they’d been doing their usual mix of encouragements and insults to annoy and motivate each other through their workouts - gym training for Alec, and physiotherapy exercises for Jace. Alec might currently be lying flat on his back on the floor and his whole body hurt so much that was tempted to just lie here for the rest of the day, but he had really missed this.

Izzy, on the other hand, had practically locked herself in her workshop for two weeks before emerging with her creation. Izzy and Maia had both agreed on using the same model of bike as a base, a BMW, which neither of them were very familiar with. The rules were that they had to work within a budget for the spare parts and build the bike unassisted, and even though Alec thought Izzy had done an amazing job, she was continually tinkering with the bike to try to make it "perfect", which made it a bit difficult for him to train with it properly. 

Alec forced himself to sit up and took a big gulp of water from his bottle. "You can't drive, and you can't get out of the car on your own. It’s not safe." 

“Dude, I’m not a dog. I’m not going to die of carbon monoxide poisoning. I’ll just crack a window open, and I can still open doors, you know."

“I don’t mean that. What are you gonna do when the cops come?"

“Do you seriously think they’re going to arrest me? I’ll just play the pity card - poor crippled racer just wanted to watch a race again,” Jace said sardonically, patting his legs.

“ _Jace_.”

“Lighten up, Alec,” Jace said with a grin, and threw his gross sweaty towel at a spluttering Alec before wheeling himself out of the gym.

\--

The race was to be held at the circuit at Red Hook again - eight laps, just Alec versus Magnus. They’d kept Alec and Izzy’s identities a secret, but there was a huge turnout at the race from people wanting to know who had been crazy enough to challenge ‘Warlock’ in a one-on-one. And it might just have been him being paranoid, but Alec thought he heard whispers of ‘Lightwood’ even though he was wearing a generic leather jacket, jeans, and a plain black helmet.

He put that all out of his mind when he pushed his bike up to the start line next to Magnus. There were many things he loved about racing: the way he felt closer to the engine rumbling under him the way he never could with a car; the sensory overload from the growl of his bike and the bikes around him, the smell of exhaust and burnt rubber, the heat from the engine, the wind kissing any sliver of exposed skin; the sharp awareness of how vulnerable he was with no metal shell to shield him from the elements or the asphalt and other bikes if he wiped out, and how that made him feel more acutely alive; but most of all, how racing commanded his entire focus so that there was no space for other thoughts or worries in his head - just him, his bike, and the race. His world narrowed to the flagman who had moved to the front and the cellphone in his hand.

The light flashed on. The revs of their bikes dropped sharply and they thundered off, accelerating from zero to 150 miles per hour in mere seconds. 

The first turn in the circuit was only metres away, and Alec leaned into the turn without needing to think, his knee almost skimming the surface of the road. This was _easy_ , and Alec kept pace with Magnus almost effortlessly for the first lap. He had fallen behind by the third lap, but began to seriously challenge Magnus’ lead in the sixth and drew level with Magnus in the second half of the last lap. They were left with four wide turns then a straight dash to the finish; Alec crouched down low and twisted the throttle, pushing the bike to its maximum speed, and both bikes crossed the finishing line only inches apart.

But Alec barely had the time to wind down from the adrenaline high of the race. Now that he was paying attention to the crowd that had gathered at the finishing line, he could hear them shouting his name - they’d figured out, or at least suspected who he was. Fortunately, Magnus caught on and signalled to him, and he followed Magnus’ lead through a side street and both racers fled into the busier main roads. They’d agreed to meet back up with Izzy and Maia at Lightwood Engineering in case this happened, but of course Alec and Magnus reached the private basement parking space first.

Magnus took off his helmet, grinning widely. “Good race. Another lap and I think you’d have been the clear winner.”

“Circuit racing is a lot about stamina. You’re just not used to it,” Alec said modestly, running a hand through his hair.

“Hmmm. So what I’m hearing is that _you’ve_ got pretty good stamina, huh?” Magnus said, eyes dancing with mischief. 

Alec let out a snort of laughter, but thankfully was rescued from having to reply when a car pulled in. He went over to help get Jace’s wheelchair out of the trunk, and Jace made a face at Alec when he helped him into his chair. 

“Save me. They’ve been bickering non-stop on the drive here,” Jace muttered, indicating Izzy and Maia.

“Who won?” Magnus asked.

“We won,” Maia answered smugly. “It was clear as day from the sidelines."

Izzy rounded on Alec. “Did you lose on purpose?”

“No, I didn’t! Magnus won fair and square,” Alec said indignantly. “But I’m pretty out of practice, so it was probably my fault, not the bike.” 

Izzy huffed in disbelief. “I can’t believe this is happening. How are we going to find someone else as good as Magnus for our racing team?”

Alec exchanged a look with Magnus. “Actually…"

“I think we should come clean with you, ladies. Alexander and I talked, and I agreed to join the Lightwood Engineering team - but on two conditions,” Magnus said. “One, it’s only for this season. Two, I want Maia onboard as well, if she’s willing. We only have two months to get me ready for the races, and we need all the help we can get. Maia knows my racing style better than you do, so it’d be easier to build a Lightwood bike for me with her insight.”

Izzy was clearly struggling with the second condition since she didn’t like Maia very much, but she knew Magnus’ reasoning was sound. “I can deal with that.”

Maia shrugged. “Ok. Think I could teach y’all a thing or two about building a bike anyway,” she said sweetly. Izzy started grinding her teeth.

"Good, then it's settled," Alec declared quickly, before the two girls started sniping at each other again, and smiled at Magnus. "Welcome to the team."


	3. Chapter 3

Alec knew that Maryse Lightwood would find out about what they'd done to recruit Magnus for their racing team eventually, but he'd been hoping that it would be after the ink had dried on their contracts with Magnus and Maia. One look at her stern expression when she walked into his office the day after the race, and he knew the game was up. 

He stood up from his desk, hands behind his back, and cleared his throat. “Mom. Um…"

“When you suddenly went back to your training diet - even through Christmas dinner, I might add - I thought Izzy and Jace had convinced you to race again this year. I wasn’t expecting to hear from Luke that his men had rounded up some people last night for illegal betting at Red Hook and that some of them claimed that one of the racers in the street race had been _you_ ,” Maryse said, crossing her arms. “Let me guess - Izzy and Jace put you up to it.”

“We’ve recruited some new people for the racing team and the engineering team. But there were some issues that needed to be settled before we could get them on board.”

“And those ‘issues’ had to be settled by an illegal street race? Just what sort of people are they?” Maryse asked with a frown.

"Mom, they're really good. I wouldn't have agreed to help get them on the team if I didn't think they were worth it."

Maryse sighed. "I trust your judgement. I've never had to worry about you - but I also know how you are with Izzy and Jace. They’re your blind spots when it comes to making sensible decisions and you’d do anything to make them happy.” Maryse smiled, shaking her head. “I just wish you’d be a bit more selfish sometimes and do something that makes _you_ happy."

The tension went out of Alec's shoulders and he smiled back at her. "I'm alright, Mom."

"Did you at least have fun?" Maryse asked wryly, and Alec laughed. 

"Yeah, it felt pretty good, actually. Bit different from a normal race but close enough," Alec admitted. "But it's just this once, I promise."

The furrow in her brow returned. "You're not going to be involved in the racing team apart from this unorthodox recruitment process?" 

"I've agreed to train the new racer, starting tomorrow," Alec told her. "His name is Magnus."

"Must have been an impressive racer to meet your standards."

"He beat me in last night's race, actually."

Maryse raised an eyebrow. "Sounds promising, but I think it would be prudent to have him race against the team we already have. After all, raw talent doesn't always translate to results. I want to be there for the qualifying race - best two makes it onto the final team," Maryse instructed. "And don't ever keep something like that illegal race from me again."

"Yes, ma'am," Alec replied quickly. 

Maryse patted him fondly on the cheek. “Don’t stay in too late if you’re going to help with training tomorrow. I’ll take over some of the accounts from you.”

“No, Mom, it’s ok. I can-“

“No ‘but’s,” Maryse said firmly, smiling at him as she walked out of his office.

\--

The contract they’d signed with Magnus afforded him full access to Lightwood Engineering’s staff gym and heated indoor swimming pool, as well as the staff cafeteria where the chefs could be instructed to prepare all his meals to his caloric needs. When Izzy and Maia finished building Magnus’ bike, Magnus would also be training at the New York Safety Track over at Harpersfield - for now, since the closest official MotoGP racing circuit was in Texas. Magnus was their secret weapon, but he would eventually have to try his strength on a proper track. After he won the qualifying race Maryse had stipulated, they planned to make a trip to Texas when he was officially registered to the MotoGP as a racer for the Lightwood team, and there would be no point trying to hide him anymore. 

There was no time to lose. Even though Magnus and Alec had discussed and planned everything out even before their street race, including settling all the necessary paperwork for the official racing licenses Magnus needed to compete in a legal race, they had only two months to get Magnus in shape. Alec was determined not to let their tight deadline stand in the way of developing Magnus’ skills to their full potential, and of course he had to help Magnus win his first race as a professional, legal racer.

Magnus was right on time the next morning, already in exercise gear and doing warm-up stretches in the gym. Alec's only complaint was that Magnus had chosen to wear a black tank top to train, and those arms were really distracting. 

"Ok, your form and reflexes are great, so what we really need to work on is strength and stamina," Alec said. 

"So I've heard," Magnus said with a grin.

"Cycling first," Alec suggested, gesturing to an exercise bike.

"You should start him off with high reps of light weights." 

Alec turned in surprise. "Jace! What are you doing here?" His brother usually hated exercising in front of other people. 

"What, I'm not allowed to use the gym when you guys are in here?" Jace asked a little sharply. 

"Plenty of space to share," Alec replied, keeping his tone light, and turned back to Magnus. 

He should have expected it - after all, Magnus was now officially here to take Jace's place on the team and it was a position that Jace had been forced out of when he'd been in the prime of his racing career. Even if Jace had helped convince Alec to get Magnus on their team, it had to be tough to face the reality of it now. Thankfully, Magnus didn't make a big deal of it and simply greeted Jace, and they moved on to weights like Jace had suggested. 

Magnus was a quick learner and had very few bad workout habits for Alec to correct. He could feel Jace watching them and once in a while Jace would call out suggestions on Magnus' workout, but Alec actually found his brother's presence helpful rather than annoying - mostly because Magnus being all sweaty with his tank top sticking to the lines of his pecs and abs was just too fucking much, and Alec was only human. 

"Alright, last one for today," Alec said, patting an exercise bike. "This is an isokinetic cycle. Are you familiar with the term?" 

Magnus shook his head, gulping water from his bottle as Alec straddled the bike to give him a demonstration. 

"Normal bikes are isotonic - constant resistance. Basically, if you pedal harder, you go faster," Alec said, keying in the speed he wanted and starting to cycle. "But for an isokinetic bike, the _speed_ is the constant. If you try to pedal harder, the machine provides more resistance so that you're still going at the same speed."

"As if you're forced to cycle uphill at a constant speed," Magnus said in understanding. 

Alec nodded, slowing down. "On the flip side, if you're tired and start pedalling more slowly, the speed also remains the same, so the bike actually makes up the difference so you don't stop abruptly. It trains muscle control and there's less risk of injury. We've got other isokinetic stuff too, like that shoulder press Jace is using."

"Good for rehabilitation when your body gets fucked up by a bike landing on your spine," Jace contributed with a slightly brittle smile. 

Alec counted slowly to ten in his head to curb the urge to snipe back at Jace while Magnus got on the bike, and the rest of the workout continued without further incident. 

"Good work today," Alec said as Magnus got off the bike. 

Magnus sat down on the floor with more grace than Alec would have managed after his first four-hour high-intensity workout and emptied his water bottle in one long swallow. Alec had to try not to stare as Magnus' Adam's apple bobbed and the sweat dripping from his brow traced a line from his jawline to his clavicle, then even lower. 

"We're going to be upping the duration and intensity of your workouts," Alec warned him. "By the end of next week, we should be doing six hours, six days a week."

"I'm looking forward to getting many more rounds of _good, hard_ workouts from you," Magnus teased. 

Jace let out a loud "Jesus!" and wheeled himself out of the gym. 

"Sorry," Alec said with a sigh. "If it bothers you for Jace to be here, I'll speak to him later."

Magnus shook his head. "I noticed that you tend to defer to his suggestions on which workouts would work better for me." 

"I usually just plan a routine that works for me and stick to that, but Jace gets bored so he'll think up new exercises to shake things up a bit. As a racer he also had the same strengths and weaknesses as you, so he knows a bigger repertoire of exercises that might work for you too," Alec explained. 

"If he can help me train more efficiently, I really don't mind if he's here. I understand that he may be feeling a little upset right now, so of course I won't take it to heart," Magnus said. 

"Thanks."

"There's no need to thank me for basic human decency, Alexander," Magnus said, getting to his feet. "Well, I think I'll go shower and grab some lunch. Would you like to join me?" 

Alec nodded. "Yeah, I could join you for lunch." 

"For the shower as well, if you're so inclined," Magnus offered cheekily. Alec rolled his eyes at him and Magnus went off laughing.

After Magnus left, while Alec was checking all the gym equipment they’d used to make sure they’d be safe and ready for the next person who tried to use them, he reflected that while Magnus was one of the hottest guys he'd ever met, there was much more to him than that.

It was going to be hell trying to keep things professional, and Alec Lightwood was already in trouble. 

\--

Jace turned up the next time Magnus had a gym session with Alec, throwing out suggestions and barbs in equal measure, and continued to show up for all of his training sessions except the twice-weekly swimming sessions that Magnus was supposed to handle on his own. Alec didn't bring up Jace crashing Magnus' training sessions to anyone, not even Izzy - but also because Izzy was busy with a battle of her own. 

He'd requested for an update from her at the two-week mark, but she walked into his office halfway through the second week in a huff. "Alec, I can't do this anymore," she declared, crossing her arms as she sat down. 

"Is Maia is holding up the project? Do you want me to talk to her or ask Magnus to talk to her?" Alec asked, already scrolling through his phone for Magnus’ number. 

"She's not holding up the project," Izzy said, then reluctantly admitted, "Actually, we're done building Magnus' bike.”

“In eleven days?” Alec asked incredulously.

“It’s a really good piece of engineering, and she did a fair amount of the work. The only problem is, Maia likes to work entirely on her own, in secret, and she doesn’t seem to get the concept of working as a team. To her, the engineering team here is ‘mine’ and she just doesn’t trust us. I walk into the workshop every morning to find modifications to the bike that she’s done without consulting me, and I’m not saying her work is bad, but _I’m_ the team leader,” Izzy fumed. “And she won’t tell me what she did, so I have to reverse engineer every modification she makes to figure it out. It’s driving me _crazy_."

"At least the bulk of the work is done. And if you know what she did and how she did it, any further modifications or repairs shouldn't be a problem even if she's off the team," Alec pointed out. 

Izzy chewed on her lower lip, still frowning. "I suppose."

"Do you want me to play bad cop and get her off the team?" he asked her. 

Izzy sighed. "But she's good, she's really good. I think she's mostly self-taught, you know?" 

"Magnus told me that he convinced her to take the contract with us because she wants to be able to afford night classes for an engineering degree," Alec said. 

Izzy groaned and covered her face with her hands. “Then how can I kick her off the team?”

“I’ll talk to her. I mean, I'm technically her boss, at least for now,” Alec said.

“No, don’t, it’ll make it worse. I just wanted to vent,” Izzy said. She took a deep breath, let it out, and stood up. “Anyway, Magnus has a bike now, so let him take it for a spin as soon as possible. I’ll be there, of course… and probably Maia, whether I want her to be there or not, because god knows she doesn't take instructions from me.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Alec asked.

“I’m fine,” Izzy insisted, already walking out of the door, but paused right at the doorway. “She keeps calling me ‘princess’, and you know how I hate that. If she was a guy, I’d have punched her in the face ages ago,” Izzy blurted out and stomped off, her heels clacking loudly down the hallway.

\--

Magnus was naturally eager to try out the new bike, so they went up to Harpersfield at the first available opportunity. It would have been a four-hour drive up, so Izzy and Maia went with their crew and Alec, Jace, and Magnus took the company helicopter, which also meant that there wasn’t much opportunity for conversation. When they got there, Izzy and Maia were very pointedly ignoring each other even though they were doing the last checks on the bike together, and Alec braced himself for a very long day. 

"Are we ready to go?" 

Alec turned to see Magnus walking towards them in full-body racing leathers in Lightwood colours. Racing suits were meant to be worn skin-tight to reduce wind resistance, and in a correct fit it was tight enough that Magnus couldn't quite stand upright and was forced to hunch his shoulders forward a little in an aggressive-looking crouch. The additional padding in the suit from the in-built airbag system and the elbow and knee guards accentuated the breadth of his frame and added an unintentional swagger to his walk, and combined with the brilliant streak of gold in his hair and his ever-present eyeliner, Alec was so mesmerised that he didn’t even hear Izzy calling his name at first.

It was going to be a very, _very_ long day.

They retreated to a tent that had been set up as temporary pit stop to watch the camera feeds from a dozen cameras that had been set up around the track as well as a camera that had been mounted on the bike. There would be no pit stops, just like a proper race, and if it rained they would stop completely, although the weather looked like it would probably hold up. Alec had advised Magnus to take it easy. This was the first time he was doing a full-length race of thirty laps, on a track he wasn’t familiar with, and on a bike that was a lot more powerful than what he was used to. Besides, despite its name, Alec didn’t think the New York Safety Track was particularly safe - there were parts where he felt the trees grew too close to the tracks, and they’d chosen it because it was secluded and less frequently used since it was somewhere in the mountains but it was really fucking cold out here in January and racing leathers did nothing for keeping warm.

Magnus did one warm-up lap and went straight into the training proper. As expected, he made a very good start but began to falter at the halfway mark, rallying again in the last few laps to finish with a total time of slightly under 41.5 minutes - definitely not a timing that would win in a race but amazing for a first try, and his lap times for his first few laps were good enough that he would have qualified for the first eight places on the starting grid. Alec hadn’t been expecting any miracles, but Jace’s expression was stormy.

“That was great,” Alec told Magnus encouragingly as he came in, but Jace just snorted derisively.

“You need to stop thinking with your gear shift, Alec,” Jace said. “That was a fucking _joke_. From the way you lot were going on about him, I thought Magnus was actually supposed to be good at this.”

“Are you serious right now? That was his first time doing a full race, asshole,” Maia said incredulously. 

Magnus put a hand on her shoulder. “Maia, it’s alright. Let it go.” That was the wrong thing to say, but only because when Jace got like that, everything you said was the wrong thing to say.

“Sure, be all patient and understanding and make me look like the bad guy,” Jace snapped. “Do you have any idea how much money the company has put into this? You think you can fuck around with us? We’ll make you wish you hadn’t.“

“Jace, that’s enough,” Alec said sharply, before Jace said something in the heat of the moment that messed everything up for good. 

"Were you threatening us? Who the fuck do you think you are?" Maia seethed. 

She shrugged off Magnus' hand and took a step towards Jace. Izzy got in her path immediately, and Maia's fury found a new target. In an instant, the tension in the tent became a bomb on a hair-trigger. 

"I said that's _enough_ ," Alec growled. "Jace, outside."

Jace scowled at him but wheeled himself out of the tent, and Magnus flashed Alec a small smile, already stepping between Izzy and Maia to defuse that end of the situation. 

By the time Alec stepped out of the shelter of the tent, Jace was a distance away, wheeling himself towards the road that led out of the facility as if he was just going to go home on his own. It didn't take long for Alec to catch up but Jace kept going, so Alec just jogged after his brother until Jace finally stopped. 

"Coming after me to defend your boyfriend's honour?" Jace snarled. He kept his back turned towards Alec and had his hands in his lap to try to hide the fact that they were shaking from the exertion. 

“Let’s get in the shade. C’mon,” Alec said quietly, taking over the handles of Jace’s wheelchair.

He pushed Jace towards a grove of trees that would hide them from the view of their team under the tent and sat down on the grass next to him. “We’ll win this, Jace. Magnus is taking this seriously and you know he works hard."

“I know,” Jace said tiredly. "But we've only got six weeks to go and I just wish I wasn’t so... never mind."

Just wasn’t so what? Useless? Because Jace wasn’t useless just because of his injuries, not that Alec could tell him that without Jace immediately rejecting everything he had to say. "You know, you're surprisingly not too sucky as a coach,” Alec offered. 

Jace let out a sharp bark of laughter. "Only because I don't spend half the time drooling over Magnus' biceps. I'm sorry for cockblocking you, by the way, considering you barely get any as it is."

“There’s nothing going on between me and Magnus," Alec protested. 

"Oh c'mon, I'm not fucking blind and deaf," Jace scoffed. "Every training session is like six hours of foreplay between the two of you, do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is to have a front-row seat to that?" 

"Fuck off," Alec muttered. 

“Hey, I'm really not judging,” Jace said. "But maybe try to keep it in your pants until after the racing season is over, ok? I mean, if you guys start hooking up and things don't work out..." 

"It'll get complicated. I know," Alec said, looking down at his hands. 

"Sorry, man. Even now I’ve got more game than you," Jace said with a ghost of a smile. "Did I tell you, I've got a new nurse who's helping me with my PT sessions and she's smoking hot? Red hair, green eyes, exactly my type, plus she laughs at all my jokes. I'm living my hot nurse fantasies right now."

"Gross," Alec complained. 

“You’re one to talk. We’ve all just had to watch you ogling Magnus like you’ve never seen a guy in a racing suit,” Jace snorted.

Alec made a face and scuffed his heels in the grass. It was really quiet here, and peaceful. 

"I have a suggestion, and hear me out before you say no," Jace said, breaking the silence. "I think you should take part in the qualifying race as well."

Alec's head snapped up and he opened his mouth to protest, but at the dead-serious expression on Jace's face, he shut up again and gestured that Jace should continue. 

“Magnus needs a pacer, someone to challenge him, like you used to challenge me. Without you, I wouldn’t have been as good a racer as I was," Jace said. 

"After the qualifying race we'll probably have another person on the team," Alec pointed out. 

"One of those sad schmucks who can barely make it under 41.5 minutes after half a year of training? Alec, you're the best racer we have and Magnus will need you to give him that extra push if he's ever going to be ready to beat Morgenstern in less than two months."

Alec opened his mouth to protest again, but Jace held up a hand. "And he needs someone to watch his back, someone who knows to expect the kind of shit Morgenstern will pull," Jace said. "Surely you're not going to let what happened to me happen to Magnus as well."

"...damnit, Jace. That was under the belt," Alec muttered. "But if I'm racing, who's going to coach Magnus?" 

"You were the one who said I wasn't a bad coach - so meet your new coach," Jace said with a grin, pointing at himself. “Get your ass back on the track, bro, training starts tomorrow. And get ready to be crowned the kings of the MotoGP again."


	4. Chapter 4

Officially taking on the mantle of coach seemed to breathe new life into Jace. He was pretty good at identifying their strengths and weaknesses and kept coming up with new, tougher exercises for both Magnus and Alec, supposedly with the help of the hot nurse who was helping him with his physiotherapy. And although Alec had accused Jace of taking slightly sadistic glee in it, to be honest they both needed the tougher training. Izzy and Maia were going to take another week or so building Alec a bike and making adjustments to Magnus’, and after the qualifying race they would have less than a month left to racing season. And even though Alec and his siblings were rooting for Magnus, it was a fair race against the other two racers who should have been representing Lightwood Engineering this year and Alec wasn’t going to be complacent enough to assume that he and Magnus would definitely be winning the qualifying race.

Unfortunately, according to MotoGP rules they were only allowed a certain number of training races on the actual race bikes, so they stuck to the isokinetic bike in the gym and racing simulations based on the various official tracks around the world, as well as dirt bikes on a track up in Modena and normal bikes at Harpersfield. Magnus' timings had been improving but Alec wasn't as prepared as he'd have liked to be, which was why he'd ended up heading to the company pool the day before the race when it should have been a rest day for him. He wasn't planning on doing more than an hour, and it was mostly to work off the restlessness, so he'd gone late in the evening when most of his employees had gone home and he could be relatively assured of having the whole pool to himself - except that there was someone in the pool. 

Alec could only see his head and shoulders when he came up for air, but he still managed to recognise him. _Magnus_. 

After his talk with Jace, Alec had tried to be more careful about how he behaved around Magnus. For once, his brother was right - things could get complicated, as if they weren’t already complicated enough. Unfortunately, it was a bit like that thought experiment where you were supposed to try not to think about a pink elephant, and now there were pink elephants lurking around every corner in Alec’s mind, specifically those that wondered if there were tattoos in other places and what it would feel like to have those thighs gripping his hips instead of a bike.

Normally he psyched himself up for meeting Magnus so that he could keep his cool around him, but he hadn’t been prepared to meet Magnus here. Alec was tempted to walk back out but steeled himself and walked towards the pool instead. They were teammates and Alec had to learn how to cope instead of turning tail every time Magnus turned up out of the blue, or it was never going to work out. The company pool was of proper Olympic-length but only three lanes wide. Alec sat down at the edge of the pool furthest from Magnus and swung his legs into the water, then pushed himself into the pool with a splash.

Magnus stopped and looked up, wiping the water from his face. “Alexander! What a pleasant surprise." 

Alec gave him a small smile and nod in greeting, pulled on his goggles and started swimming to avoid having to make conversation. For the next half an hour they kept to their respective sides of the pool and Alec concentrated on doing his laps with slow steady strokes. After a while, Magnus left, and Alec only stopped swimming long enough to wave goodbye to him (and to watch Magnus walking away from him in wet swim shorts), and resumed his laps. Unfortunately, the tension that he’d been holding while Magnus had been also been in the pool was giving him a crick in the neck despite the warmth of the heated pool, so Alec gave up and just leaned against the side of the pool, closing his eyes and letting the water lap gently against his skin.

It had been a couple of months since he'd met Magnus, and he'd been hoping that he'd be desensitised to the initial physical attraction between them by now. Magnus was always flirty and charming so Alec wasn't sure if he was mostly just teasing, but it had soon become clear to Alec that this wasn't something he could get out of his system by having a quick hookup with Magnus. Maybe after racing season was over he’d ask Magnus out for a drink and see if it led to something more, but he’d decided not to say anything in case it sounded like he expected Magnus to wait around for him. Besides, Magnus was technically on his payroll, even if he’d made it clear that he didn’t really care for the money.

When he was sure that he’d waited long enough, Alec dragged himself out of the pool and headed to the showers, only to bump into Magnus just as he was leaving. Magnus' hair was still damp, the longer locks that were usually styled up in a fauxhawk curling a little over his forehead in a way that made Alec feel tempted to sweep it up off his face for him, but he already had his eyeliner on, which probably accounted for why he’d taken so long to get dressed. 

If Alec took one step forward now, he'd be close enough to kiss Magnus. They were probably the only ones still in the Lightwood Engineering building so late in the evening and there were obviously no security cameras in the changing rooms; if anything happened, nobody would have to know. Instead, Alec took one step backwards. 

“You’re going up to Harpersfield with Izzy and Maia early tomorrow morning, right?” Alec asked.

“Yes. We thought it’d look like the Lightwoods were playing favourites if I was the only racer who got a lift in the company helicopter."

“Makes sense. Have a safe trip,” Alec said.

Magnus stepped a little closer, but it was only so he could squeeze past Alec to get through the doorway. "Good luck with the race tomorrow,” he said with a smile and a wave.

Alec only realised that he'd been holding his breath when Magnus turned around the corner, out of sight. 

And now he knew that Magnus' tattoos went across his entire upper back as well, with a trail of flowering vines that went down the length of his spine and disappeared into the waistband of his pants.

\--

The next day dawned sunny and bright, perfect weather for a race. Alec took the helicopter with Jace and Maryse, feeling a little bereft without Magnus’ usual presence. Once they arrived, Alec spotted Magnus immediately, hanging out with Maia and Izzy while they did the last checks on the bikes. But while Jace went off to join them, Alec chose to escort Maryse while she made the rounds greeting and thanking the staff who were helping to run the race and making small talk with the other two racers, who seemed a little taken aback to learn that Alec would also be racing. Finally, Alec brought his mom over to meet the engineering team and Magnus. Maia was fortunately in the mood to be polite and Magnus was charming as ever, and Alec was thankful that he’d toned the flirting down but he should have known that there was no getting anything past Maryse.

“So he’s the one you had to race to get him to join us?” Maryse asked him afterwards when Alec was walking her to the tent serving as the temporary pit stop.

“Yeah.”

"Well, he’s got Jace coaching and you back on the track doing what you love. I can’t say I’m complaining,” Maryse said. “But are you sure the race was really necessary?”

“Magnus is worth it, I promise. His best lap timings are on par with Jace’s, it’s just consistency and stamina that we need to work on,” Alec said.

“That wasn’t what I meant. I just thought that perhaps Magnus wouldn’t have minded joining the team just to have a chance to work with you,” Maryse said with a smile.

“Nothing's going on between me and Magnus. Why does everyone think there’s something going on? He’s just that way around everyone,” Alec grumbled.

“Alright, I’m staying out of it before you accuse me of being an embarrassing meddling parent,” Maryse said with a laugh and kissed him on the cheek. “I can find my way around by myself, Alec. Go get ready for your race and good luck."

Just as Alec had hoped, he didn’t have much time to hang around chatting. He changed into his racing suit, and his bike was already waiting for him, ready for him to drive it to the starting line. They were going for a two-by-two grid for the race, with Magnus and Alec taking the places in the second row. All of them did one warm-up lap and when they came back to the starting line, Magnus sent a salute his way and Alec nodded in acknowledgement, but the race was starting and it was time to get his head in the game. 

It was meant to be a fair race, but Alec supposed it honestly wasn’t, because he and Magnus were a team. The moment the signal lights went off, Alec and Magnus moved as one, taking over the other two racers effortlessly, and neither of them had any real problems keeping the lead. Every time Magnus faltered a little, Alec was there at the edge of his vision pacing him, or hanging back to make sure the other racers didn’t even get a chance to challenge their lead. When Alec crossed the finishing mark seconds after Magnus, Alec heaved a sigh of relief; they didn't quite have the same team dynamic as he'd had with Jace, but Alec could feel it all coming together.

But even through the satisfaction of getting Magnus and himself successfully through their internal qualifying race, Alec could tell that something was bothering Magnus. Magnus didn’t say anything though, smiling politely and accepting the congratulations from the engineering team and the other racers. While everyone was packing up to leave, Magnus came up to Alec.

“Can I talk to you for a moment?” Magnus asked him.

They walked away from the tents and the people. The track was surrounded by several thick groves of trees and anyway the whole facility had been booked by Lightwood Engineering for the race, so they were not likely to be disturbed or overheard. They were still in plain view of the staff though, and Alec wanted to keep it that way.

“Is something wrong?” Alec finally asked.

“Two things,” Magnus said, raising two fingers. “First - you let me win that race.”

“That’s kind of the point,” Alec said.

“No, I agreed to join the Lightwood team because you needed help winning against Morgenstern. If you’re back on the team and you’re actually capable of beating him on your own, I have no reason to be here, bound by all your rules and schedules,” Magnus pointed out.

“It's not that simple. Morgenstern is a fucking snake, we'll have a better chance at beating him if we work together,” Alec protested, already feeling a little dismayed at the thought of Magnus leaving the team, and not only because he knew it would hurt their chances of winning. 

“Then at least show me the courtesy of challenging me fairly and racing me to win, because there's no point to winning like this, Alexander," Magnus said flatly. 

"I'm not going easy on you because I think you can't win," Alec assured him. "I can promise to give you a straightforward race during practices, but my priorities are different during an actual race."

Magnus' expression softened. "I've noticed from watching your old races that you tend to hang back, but me winning shouldn't come at the expense of you winning. Besides, you're watching my back, but who watches yours?" 

"It's team strategy," Alec insisted. 

"Strategy," Magnus repeated with a snort. "Alright, then we'll talk about this later with Jace. But my second issue is just between us." Magnus looked him straight in the eye. "You've been avoiding me."

_Shit_. Well, Alec supposed he'd been pretty obvious. He cleared his throat. "I'd like to keep things between us strictly professional for now."

" _For now_?" Magnus asked, raising an eyebrow. "Ah, I see. You like having things under control. And is that just outside the bedroom, or inside the bedroom as well?”

Alec shook his head in exasperation at Magnus, but he couldn't help letting out a huff of laughter. “You can’t expect me to answer that.”

Magnus stepped a little closer, dropping his voice as he leaned in. “Haven't you heard that quote by racing legend Mario Andretti? If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough.” He winked at Alec. “Take that whichever way you want. And now I think I should go back and join Maia and Isabelle before they end up at each other's throats again.”

Alec turned to scan the group of staff for his sister and Maia and spotted them helping the engineering crew load the bikes on the truck. He hadn't seen them arguing today - yet. They'd built his bike even more quickly than they'd built Magnus' and Izzy hadn't come to him with more complaints or rants. He'd assumed that even if they weren't exactly friends, Izzy and Maia weren't letting their differences get in the way of working together for the benefit of the team. 

"So things are still pretty bad between them?" Alec asked Magnus as they walked back to join the rest of the team. 

"Maia had some preconceptions about how Isabelle was going to be like, and even though your sister has proved to be very hands-on and clearly knows what she's doing, I think Maia is too stubborn to admit that she was wrong about her," Magnus said. "That being said, your sister is used to giving orders and having everyone jump to follow them, which doesn't sit well with Maia. And I'm sure you know that Isabelle gives as good as she gets.”

“Izzy’s always been the smartest one in the room. I don’t think she knows what to do now that she’s met her match,” Alec said. “I thought about stepping in, but Izzy said she could handle it."

Magnus hummed. “Perhaps I should make myself scarce.”

"What, why?" Alec asked in surprise. 

"Just a hunch. I'll catch a lift from someone else in the engineering team instead."

"There's room for one more in the helicopter, if you wanna come with us instead," Alec offered. "I mean, you wanted to talk strategy with Jace, right?" 

"Strictly professional?" Magnus asked with a teasing grin.

“Strictly professional,” Alec agreed, and almost managed to convince himself that it was true.

\--

The intensive three-day practice sessions at the official track in Texas, the Circuit of the Americas, would be the last practice race they were allowed on their actual race bikes before the start of the season. Even though they were called “practice” sessions, the sessions were open to spectators and the best lap time from the three sessions would determine the racers' starting rankings for the season and their place on the grid for the official qualifying race. It was also a trial run for logistics - flying the bikes and all their equipment to Texas and making the necessary arrangements so Jace could be there with minimal discomfort. It was decided that Alec, Magnus, Izzy, and Maia would fly to Texas the day before so Alec and Magnus could have sufficient rest, and Jace would join them on the day of the race with a nurse to assist him since his siblings would be too busy with their own duties.

In the week that had passed, Magnus hadn’t brought up Alec's request to keep things between them professional, although Alec supposed his continued blatant flirting was answer enough. Alec knew the ball was in his court, but this was also the first time Magnus was officially making an appearance as a racer for Lightwood Engineering, and Alec was braced for the onslaught of media attention when they realised he was returning to the racing track as well. If there was a time to keep things professional, this would be it. On the other hand, racing season was a whole nine months, until the end of November, and Alec wasn’t sure how much more of this close proximity to Magnus he could take without going crazy. Alec just hadn't expected a mix-up in hotel bookings to force things to come to a head. 

"I'm really sorry, Mr Lightwood," the hotel manager said for the umpteenth time. “Unfortunately, we’re really overbooked as it is, but-"

"It's ok, it's not your fault," Alec said wearily. “We’ll work it out on our own.”

They had only been given three rooms instead of five, one of the rooms being a special room with accessibility features like a built-in shower bench and extra supports around the room. But it wasn’t such a great hardship to have to share rooms in a five-star hotel, instead of each of them having their own room like they’d originally planned. The staff of the engineering team were already sharing and Alec hadn’t been planning to leave Jace alone in an unfamiliar room no matter what accessibility features it had. 

Alec went back to where Magnus was caught in the middle of the two girls, having two separate conversations because Izzy and Maia had decided to behave that the other person didn’t exist. “So, I was thinking that I could take the room that’s meant for Jace and his nurse, at least for tonight. Then Magnus can take one room and Izzy and Maia can share,” Alec suggested.

“ _What_?” Izzy and Maia snapped in unison, then glared at each other.

“Ok, maybe not,” Alec muttered. He mentally shuffled through the various permutations - the rooms were all supposed to have twin beds, but he really didn’t want to share a room with Magnus because that would just be punishing himself. “Ok, how about Izzy with me, and Maia and Magnus can each have their own room?"

Izzy nodded reluctantly. “Ok, but what happens when Jace comes tomorrow with his nurse?” 

“We’ll work that out tomorrow. Maybe they’ll have freed up some rooms by then,” Alec said, although he highly doubted that it would happen.

Unfortunately, all of the rooms only had a single king-sized bed. Jace’s room had a spare sofa bed but Izzy refused to let him sleep there when he had a practice race the next day.

“I’m going to talk to Maia,” Izzy finally said.

Alec followed her out into the hallway with trepidation. She rapped smartly on the door.

“Yes, Your Highness?” Maia drawled as she opened the door.

Izzy crossed her arms and scowled. “Let’s settle this, once and for all.”

That sounded ominous. Alec started forward, but Maia had already stepped aside to let Izzy in and shut the door, leaving Alec standing alone in the hotel hallway at a loss. After a few moments of indecision, he ended up knocking on Magnus’ door, which was right next to Maia's. 

“Alexander? Why do you look so worried?” Magnus asked as he opened the door. 

“Izzy said she was going to ’settle’ things with Maia,” Alec replied.

“Oh dear,” Magnus murmured. "Do you want to come inside? The walls are quite thin, so if things get out of hand I think we'll be able to hear them."

Alec had barely stepped into the room when he distinctly heard Izzy say, " _I thought I told you not to call me princess._ " They couldn't hear Maia's reply, but after a few moments there was a dull thud like one of them had slammed the other against the wall. Magnus’ eyes widened.

"Shit." Alec was already halfway out of the room and ready to kick open Maia's door when Magnus grabbed him by the arm. 

"Alexander, I think we should leave them to it."

"But-"

"Trust me," Magnus insisted. He grabbed his coat. "I don't think we should be here for this. Let's go downstairs to the hotel cafe."

Alec hesitated, glancing at the connecting wall, and was slightly distracted when Magnus put a hand on the small of his back to nudge him towards the door. Then there was another thud, and something that kind of sounded like a... moan?

"Jesus, ok, let’s go,” Alec muttered as realisation dawned. Suddenly he couldn’t get out of there quickly enough.


	5. Chapter 5

"I can't believe Izzy and Maia decided to do this right now," Alec said with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“It’s been brewing for a while. _I_ think it’s better that they sort things out before we head into the racing season proper,” Magnus said, stirring his coffee idly. 

They were sitting in a crowded Starbucks on the first floor of the hotel and it was the last place Alec wanted to be. They’d had to book rooms at a hotel right next to the track to make things more convenient for Jace and since the people coming to watch the practice sessions had a particular interest in Lightwood Engineering, there was a high possibility of meeting diehard fans or paparazzi here. Alec had his baseball cap pulled low and they’d managed to get a table right in a corner, but he was still tense and ill at ease. All he wanted was to stay in his room watching bad cable TV, order room service, and have an early night.

Besides, Izzy and Maia hooking up was making Alec pretty envious. If Izzy could throw caution to the wind, why couldn't he? Why did he always have to be the responsible one? 

“So what do you do for fun around here?” Magnus asked.

“I don't know. I usually just stay in,” Alec replied, wishing he didn’t sound so horribly boring.

“Alexander, are you telling me that you’ve been coming here for years and when you’re not on the track you just stay in your hotel room?” Magnus tutted. “Well, I suppose we could just do each other."

Alec choked on the gulp of coffee he’d just taken and Magnus handed him a napkin with an unrepentant grin. When he finally stopped breathing out coffee through his nose, Alec cleared his throat. “Maybe we could get to know each other better,” he suggested, then knowing how Magnus would probably turn it into innuendo, added, “Literally. Y’know, just talking."

“Seems like you already know me pretty well,” Magnus said with a laugh. "And _this_ is what you got from that Andretti quote I told you about going faster?”

Alec shrugged awkwardly. “Um, we don’t have to. I just thought-"

“No, it’s fine. Talking is good too - I’m actually pleasantly surprised,” Magnus admitted, then smiled teasingly at Alec. “Is this a date, then? I thought this was two bros chilling in a coffee shop five feet apart.”

“No, it’s not a date,” Alec said. Magnus’ eyebrow went up. “I mean, because if this was a date, I’d bring you somewhere nicer,” Alec clarified quickly. And if this was a date, Alec would be wearing something nicer than his NYU hoodie and hopefully wouldn't have coffee dripping from his nose. 

"It's a bit noisy here for proper conversation," Magnus agreed. “But I’ve always been of the opinion that it’s the company that matters, so as far as I'm concerned, this is perfect.”

Alec took a tentative sip of his coffee before he blurted out something corny and stupid like “ _you’re_ perfect”. He was still set on keeping things between them professional though, and even if a coffee date was the lowest bar for a thing that could even pass off as a date, once that line was crossed there would be no taking it back. 

“Can we not put a label on this?” he asked.

“Sure. Just getting to know each other better as teammates, then,” Magnus answered lightly. 

But his smile was dimmer and the conversation less animated even through dinner at the hotel restaurant, and Alec began to wonder if he had crossed a different line instead - rejecting Magnus so many times that he had finally given up. 

\--

And if it wasn’t enough that Izzy and Maia showed up to breakfast the next day exchanging secret looks and little smiles, when Jace showed up with his nurse at the track, Alec hadn't been expecting his nurse to be a _girl_ , who introduced herself as Clary Fray. Even though they'd managed to keep Jace's involvement as coach a secret for now, the media attention on Alec was still pretty intense and they’d latched onto Magnus as well once they saw him on the track. Alec couldn't afford to let all of this to distract him from the practice sessions though, which consisted of three full races - one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening, to prepare them for a similarly gruelling schedule during the actual Grand Prix. At the end of the day they'd both achieved timings that would be enough to secure good places on the grid in the first qualifying race of the season, but Alec knew they were both capable of better times and he found it hard to find satisfaction in the results. 

"What the hell, Jace?" Alec muttered when he managed to get his brother aside for a moment by offering to wheel him up to the hotel room so his nurse could finish her dinner in peace. "This is so awkward. How are we going to share a room with her?" 

"There's no 'we'. _I'm_ sharing a room with my girlfriend," Jace replied evenly.

"Wait, you were serious? You're dating your PT nurse?" Alec asked in surprise. 

“You thought I was lying?” Jace asked. Alec could tell that he was trying not to get defensive about it, which was a vast improvement from his usual quick temper.

“I don't really pay attention to your heterosexual nonsense,” Alec replied mildly. 

Jace snorted. “I told you, she’s been helping me with the exercises for you guys. So I asked her out to dinner to thank her for her help, and things just developed from there." 

There were a million questions Alec wanted to ask that he couldn't without insulting both Jace and his new girlfriend, if that’s what she really was. After all, like it or not, the facts were that even for a nurse dealing with Jace’s disability 24/7 was no small undertaking, and that Jace was a Lightwood and they were pretty stinking rich. 

“Whatever you’re thinking, don’t say it,” Jace warned.

Alec shrugged. “You can’t blame me.” 

“Yeah, yeah, I know you’re a suspicious bastard but you mean well,” Jace said. “Even if you can’t trust Clary yet, you trust me, right?”

“Nope,” Alec replied immediately, grinning when Jace turned around and flashed his middle finger at him. 

“I can take care of myself. I think you should worry a little less about my love life and a little bit more about your performance on the track,” Jace said. “What the hell was up with you and Magnus today? I mean, we agreed that these practice races are just warmups, but I know you guys can do better than that."

"Yeah, I know," Alec muttered. 

"Are you sure you don’t want me to show my face and take the heat off you guys? I know you hate it when all the paps are in your face with the cameras and shit, and I suppose Magnus is new to this."

"It's not that. A lot of stuff happened yesterday."

"What, Izzy and Maia finally getting together? Yeah, I noticed. So did something happen between you and Magnus too?" Jace asked. 

"I think the problem was more of that nothing happened. And now things are weird and I'm going to have to share a room with him for two more nights," Alec grumbled. "It's fine. I’ll deal with it.”

“You'd better be sure about that. This sort of drama is the last thing we need right now, with the season starting next week," Jace said seriously. 

By the time Alec had gotten Jace settled in, he could hear Magnus moving about in the room next door and steeled himself to go over and knock on the door. When he'd gone over to talk to Magnus about Izzy and Maia the day before, Magnus had clearly unpacked his luggage and started to make himself at home, so Alec was a little surprised to see that Magnus had moved all of his stuff to take up only half of the room. 

"I'm assuming we're going to have to share," Magnus said. 

"Yeah. I checked with the concierge but they haven't managed to free up any rooms. Hang on, I'll be back." Alec went over to grab his luggage and as he hauled it in, he couldn't help feeling like the single king-sized bed in the middle of the room was taking up a lot more space than usual. 

"So, um, Jace was hoping to see some improvement in our performance tomorrow. On the track, I mean," Alec said. 

Even Alec could see the opening for Magnus to slide in with his usual sexual innuendo, but Magnus didn't seem inclined to rise to the occasion. 

"Of course. I'm sorry. We'll keep things professional," Magnus said. "Do you mind if I shower first? It's been a long day."

They got ready for bed, moving around the shared space with a tense awkwardness and only speaking to each other when necessary. Magnus didn't make a single joke or try to flirt with Alec - not being rude or unfriendly, just perfectly professional. 

And Alec knew he'd been the one to suggest it in the first place, but he was really starting to hate that word. 

\--

It was a strange thing, missing someone who was sleeping right next to you and whom you spent almost all your waking hours with as well. Alec couldn’t blame Magnus for putting some distance between them but he missed Magnus’ laughter and flirty jokes, and most of all he missed them being _friends_. While their performance on the track was still pretty good, it just wasn’t the same when he turned to smile at Magnus after a race to find Magnus looking away, or they passed each other on the track during a race and instead of his usual wink and laughter in his eyes, Magnus' eyes were just shuttered and blank. 

To make things worse, Alec's siblings were both getting very cosy with their partners, and it was a special kind of hell when the room he shared with Magnus was in the middle of their rooms. Izzy and Maia had thankfully wised up to the walls being too thin but he could still hear snatches of quickly-muffled laughter, and Jace and Clary apparently spent evenings having sickeningly domestic arguments over the plot of some soap opera they were watching. Meanwhile, Alec and Magnus kept stiffly to their own sides of the bed, with Alec trying to do work on his phone because his mother had banned him from bringing his laptop and Magnus reading some sort of manga until it was time to go to bed. Normally, Alec was used to being the only one without a partner amongst his siblings, but then again he’d never had someone he was actually actively interested in. And while Alec knew that he had to do something to fix things between him and Magnus, he didn't want Magnus to think that he'd changed his mind about keeping things professional just because he was feeling left out. 

They would be flying home on the evening after their last practice race, and Alec promised himself that he would get hold of Magnus and attempt to explain himself when they got back to New York. But after they were done on the track for the day, when they headed to the pit box where they were supposed to meet Jace for a debrief, Alec found a very unwelcome visitor lying in wait for them. 

"What the fuck are you doing here, Morgenstern?" Alec demanded. The Morgenstern family lived in Switzerland and Jonathan usually did his practice races at the German circuit. There was no reason for him to be here, and Alec had been counting on not meeting him until the first Grand Prix in Qatar. 

“I made a special trip down to welcome an old friend back to the track, of course," Jonathan Morgenstern said with a thin smile. "The track hasn't been the same without you and Jace. You can't imagine how delighted I was when I heard that you were officially back on the Lightwood team."

Then his gaze shifted to Magnus, and Alec instinctively moved in front of Magnus. 

“You must be Magnus Bane. You’re making quite the splash for a guy who came out of nowhere,” Jonathan said.

Magnus just nodded and smiled politely, but it made Alec's hackles rise to think that the Morgensterns were keeping an eye on them still. "If you'll excuse us, we have a flight to catch," he said curtly, hoping to get rid of Jonathan before he found out that Jace was in the pit box, but of course Jace chose that precise moment to call out to him.

“Alec? Are you out there?"

Jonathan’s face lit up with glee. “And Jace is here too? This is turning out to be a proper reunion after all!"

Alec would have given anything for the ability to shield his brother from the shock of unexpectedly meeting the person who had wrecked his life and shattered all his dreams of the future. Jace went white, fingers digging into the wheels of his chair, but Clary let out a little gasp as well, and Jonathan’s smug expression became one of surprise.

“Clary? What are you doing with him?” Jonathan demanded.

“You know each other?” Alec asked.

To Alec’s surprise, it was Jace who replied. “Jonathan is her brother.”

Alec blinked, certain that he had heard wrongly. He turned to Jace. "Let me get this straight - you knew, and you still decided that it would be a good idea to date Jonathan Morgenstern's sister?" 

"Excuse me, you’re _dating_ him?" Jonathan cut in incredulously. "Clary, please tell me this is a joke. He’s a fucking Lightwood, and a useless-"

"Don't you _dare_ say that about Jace. I know what you did," Clary said fiercely. “That’s why I went looking for him in the first place, because I wanted to help with his recovery.”

“Maybe I should thank you for bringing us together,” Jace told Jonathan, giving Clary a small smile and taking her hand firmly in his.

Jonathan’s pale face flushed in anger. He took a step towards Jace and Clary, but some guy with a camera had sensed a story and was approaching them while surreptitiously snapping shots of the confrontation. Alec squared his shoulders and moved towards Jonathan with slow deliberation and found Magnus doing the same, both of them shielding Jace and Clary from Jonathan, and using their height and bulk to their advantage. Jonathan’s bodyguard or something similar looked like he was going to join the fray but Jonathan shook his head at him. 

"I look forward to seeing all of you next week," Jonathan spat as he left, but Alec had a bad feeling that Jonathan was going to show his ugly face again way before that. 

\--

The first thing Alec did when he got back to New York was to arrange additional security detail for his family, Maia, Magnus, Clary, and all his staff on the racing team. He also upped the security for all Lightwood Engineering properties, in particular the engineering department and storage facilities where the bikes were kept to minimise the risk of sabotage. He knew most of them thought he was overreacting but he wasn’t going to take any chances, and for once Jace took his side in the matter, especially where Clary was concerned. Alec was still a little annoyed at his brother for hiding the truth about Clary, but she claimed that she had left home years ago when her mother passed away and no longer had contact with the Morgensterns, and if she’d been upfront with Jace about something so big right from the start, he could see why Jace had come to trust her. 

With everything that was going on, he hadn’t had a chance to talk to Magnus after all, but right now his priorities were to make sure everyone was safe. By the end of the week, Alec’s stress levels were sky high and he didn’t even care that everyone was walking on eggshells around him - which was why it had been such an unpleasant surprise when the security people he’d allocated to Magnus reported that Magnus had taken his motorcycle out and requested very firmly that they didn’t try to follow him the night before they were due to fly to Qatar for the first Grand Prix of the season, and Magnus had turned his phone off. 

Magnus could be reckless but he usually had his reasons, and Alec's first thought was that Jonathan was making trouble for Magnus that he thought he could handle on his own and didn't want to burden them with. Knowing Magnus, if he didn’t want to be found it would be almost impossible to catch up to him when he was on a bike, but Alec couldn’t just leave him out there alone with no backup.

After some deliberation, Alec took his bike instead of his car for its flexibility and speed. He had no idea where Magnus might be, so he started with the Brooklyn area, Magnus' neighbourhood, winding slowly through the streets with his eyes peeled for Magnus. On a hunch, he headed to Maia’s shop and was extremely relieved when he spotted Magnus’ bike leaning against a streetlamp which just happened to be outside the small park where he and Magnus had first discussed working together. He killed the engine of his bike and parked it across the street, squinting into the shadows of the park but hanging back in the clear light of the streetlamp so Magnus could see that it was just him. There was someone with Magnus; Alec tried to ignore the spike of jealousy it caused, but it looked like they were just talking and it really was none of his business, or at least he was trying to tell himself that. God, what was he doing? In a while, the person Magnus had been with went off, vanishing into the deeper shadows of the park probably to get out from the other side to avoid Alec, and Magnus emerged with a frown on his face.

“What are you doing here, Alexander?”

“I just wanted to make sure you were ok. I’ll send you back home,” Alec replied gruffly, reaching for his helmet.

Magnus cocked his head, studying him intently. “That was just Raphael being ridiculous with his cloak-and-dagger nonsense. He wanted to tell me that someone has been snooping around, trying to find out if I’m known in the street racing circuit. It’s probably Jonathan trying to dig up dirt on me but you don’t have anything to worry about, Raph is a grump but he's one of my best friends and he always has my back."

“Oh, ok. That’s good,” Alec said in relief, for a variety of reasons. He took a deep breath, deciding that now was as good a time as any to clear the air with Magnus. "Look, I know I've been giving off a lot of mixed signals, but I didn't mean to blow you off that day at the hotel."

Magnus' lips twitched with a smile at that and Alec huffed. "I'm trying to be serious here, don't start that with me right now."

"I didn't say anything."

"You were going to, I saw it coming."

"Was it all over my face?" Magnus asked innocently, and burst out laughing when Alec groaned. But this was the easiest things had been between them for days, and maybe trying to keep things professional was overrated. 

"Well, I'm going to take a spin around town before I let you take me back under the watchful eye of your security staff. And yes, I know you think that it's necessary, but it's making me feel a little tied down, and not in a fun way," Magnus said with a sigh, then he raised an eyebrow at Alec. "Unless you want to join me? Not a race, just for fun - a break from going around in circles on the track."

How long had it been since he'd gone on a joyride and just ridden a bike for the sheer enjoyment of it? “Sure. And um, maybe after that I could take you out for coffee?” Alec asked before he could talk himself out of it.

The way Magnus’ face lit up convinced him that he had made the right choice. “It’s a date,” Magnus agreed.


	6. Chapter 6

Alec was New York City born-and-raised, and he thought he knew New York City well enough - or at least the main thoroughfares, ways from getting from Point A to Point B, without having to use GPS. It was a surprise to discover that he had never seen the side of New York City that was Magnus’ domain. Narrow streets that he would have assumed led to dead ends turned out to be shortcuts to familiar roads, and they went past so many places that he knew were part of the city but he’d never had the spare time or inclination to check out on his own - tree-lined streets and parks, museums, hole-in-the-wall cafes and bars. 

Their bikes were both highly modified and weren't very legal, but they weren't in a hurry to get anywhere in particular and nobody was likely to notice if they kept to the speed limit. Alec let Magnus lead the way, meandering through traffic with Magnus' bike at the edge of his vision. He could feel the heat radiating from his own bike and the car engines around him, smell the acrid exhaust and rubber that was replaced briefly with the fragrance from greasy Chinese food when they went by a restaurant, then by the less pleasant rancid stink from sidewalk trash and drains that got especially strong at certain corners - the bustling city flashing past in a blur of sensation as they zoomed through bright neon lights and patches of darkness. 

When they got to a spot in Queens, waiting at the stoplights with their engines revving, Magnus caught Alec’s eye with a meaningful look. Alec recognised the place - it was a notorious hotspot for drag racing since the traffic wasn’t very heavy and the road was just a straight stretch with no obstructions or blindspots ahead. It would be irresponsible and reckless to race each other here since there might be police cameras, and it didn’t make sense to risk trouble like that with racing season just a couple of days away and Morgenstern out there digging up dirt about Magnus. On the other hand, he’d never raced against Magnus purely for the fun of it, with no expectations, spectators, or need to care about the results - just to see how fast they could go.

The lights turned green and in a split second, Alec made up his mind. He and Magnus went full throttle down the street to a chorus of angry car horns blaring behind them, and in that moment, Alec had never felt more alive. 

\--

It was past midnight when Alec finally escorted Magnus back to his apartment block. His security staff were stationed in the lobby, and even though he'd hired people who knew how to be discreet, he decided to follow Magnus into the parking space in the basement that was only accessible to residents. Alec parked his bike next to Magnus' and he'd only intended to walk Magnus to the elevator, but when the doors of the elevator opened, Magnus paused when he stepped in and held the door open. 

"I don't suppose you meant to invite me out for coffee right this moment when you asked, and I know it's really late, but do you want to come upstairs for coffee now instead?" 

The joyride through the city with Magnus had left him high on adrenaline, and Alec had a feeling that he wasn’t going to be able to sleep, so a cup of coffee wouldn't really make a difference, but going up to Magnus' apartment for coffee was a very different date from getting a drink in a cafe. Alec ducked his head. "If it's not too much trouble." 

"I'm all for trouble if it looks like you," Magnus said with a grin. Alec chuckled and stepped into the elevator after him. 

Magnus really hadn't been kidding about not needing the money. He lived in the penthouse that took up half of the top floor, and the apartment was lavishly decorated with a mixture of obviously designer furniture and heavy antique teak pieces. The art hanging on the walls looked pretty impressive as well, and Alec had a feeling some of these were authentic masterpieces. Magnus left him in the balcony to admire the view of Brooklyn Bridge and soon returned with two coffees, one smelling strongly of rum. 

"This is decaf. If you prefer something a little stronger, I could call you a cab later?" Magnus said as he held out the non-alcoholic cup to Alec. 

“No, this is good,” Alec said, taking a sip. It was hard enough keeping a clear head around Magnus without adding alcohol to the mix.

Alec learnt that Magnus come into a hefty inheritance at the death of his parents and Alec told Magnus about what remembered about Robert Lightwood, who had died when Izzy was still a baby, but it was all too depressing so he tried to shift the conversation to racing and bikes instead, but it wasn't until they started talking about travelling that the conversation became a bit more comfortable. Even though Alec had visited many countries over the years, he’d mostly seen the insides of hotel rooms, airports, and racing arenas. Magnus confessed that he was looking forward to doing a bit of sightseeing when the team travelled to the arenas all over the world, and Alec found himself thinking that he could look into doing some touristy things with Magnus.

“Oh dear, look at the time,” Magnus murmured. Alec glanced at the watch on his wrist - it was almost three in the morning and they had a flight to catch in that evening.

Magnus walked him to the door, lingering at the doorway instead of shutting the door in his face, and if this was technically a date, then Alec was technically allowed to go in for a kiss, right? Alec leaned in a little and when Magnus smiled and tilted his chin up, Alec closed the distance between them. He’d meant for it to just be a brief, sweet kiss but Magnus’ hands landed lightly on his waist, holding him there with a gentle suggestion that he didn’t want the kiss to end just yet either, and Alec allowed himself a moment longer to taste the rum and coffee on Magnus’ lips.

“I should, um, go,” Alec said when he finally summoned enough willpower to pull away. 

"Of course. Goodnight, Alexander," Magnus replied lightly. 

Magnus stood in the doorway until Alec got into the elevator, and on the way down Alec tried to convince himself that he'd done the right thing. This was only their first date, and it was bad enough that he'd caved on his resolution to keep things professional. Besides, he wanted to take things slow, and he didn't want to seem pushy or overstay his welcome. He could be satisfied with that one kiss and the feeling of Magnus’ hands on his waist still lingering, and the memory of how beautifully animated Magnus had been talking about seeing the world, and how amazing it’d felt to be reckless just once and zoom down the street with Magnus by his side.

“Oh my god, I'm a fucking idiot,” Alec muttered to himself, and jabbed the elevator button for Magnus’ floor impatiently. 

It seemed to take an age for the lift to reach the basement and climb its way up to the top floor, but when the door finally slid open, Alec nearly ran headlong into Magnus. 

"Alexander! I thought you'd gone," Magnus said. 

All the things Alec had been planning to say fled his mind with the realisation that Magnus had maybe been coming after him to ask him to stay. "I came back,” Alec said, his heart pounding so fast that it felt like it might jump out of his throat. "I just wanted to..." 

But he couldn't think of how to put what he was feeling into words, so he ducked his head and kissed Magnus soundly on the lips. Magnus pulled him closer and Alec found it infinitely easier just to let his actions do the talking, stumbling a little as he got out of the elevator after Magnus. Magnus only pulled away long enough to grab his hand and lead him back to his apartment. 

“We don’t have to do anything,” Alec offered. “I mean, I don’t want you to feel like I’m asking for too much on a first date."

Magnus snorted, shaking his head at Alec in fond exasperation. “Too much is my middle name,” he said, and kissed Alec again before leading him to the bedroom. 

It was probably a spectacularly bad idea, but Alec couldn’t bring himself to care. They both shucked their clothes and popped into the shower first, and that turned into a whole mess of soap bubbles and giggles when neither of them could keep their hands off each other long enough to shower properly. But when they finally tumbled into Magnus' bed, both smelling like Magnus' sandalwood shampoo, the low hum of arousal flared to life as Magnus got out the lube and condoms from his nightstand and leaned over to kiss him. 

"Still with me?" Magnus asked. 

Alec nodded vigorously, spreading his legs as Magnus moved between them. His cock was already half-hard, and he sucked in a breath when Magnus wrapped a lubed hand around it, stroking him to full hardness while gently massaging his balls. 

"Shit, that's good," he grunted when Magnus' hand moved to massage a spot just behind his balls. 

"I'm only just getting started," Magnus said with a grin. 

It was the most attentive foreplay Alec had ever experienced, and by the time Magnus pressed one finger into him, Alec was both so aroused and so relaxed that slid right in even though it had been a couple of years since he'd been with anyone. Alec moaned and spread his legs a little wider, giving Magnus more room to work, and bucked his hips into Magnus' talented fingers as they opened him up with practised ease. 

"Fuck, Magnus, _please_." 

Alec made a disgruntled sound when Magnus removed his fingers, but it was just so he could roll the condom on the slick himself up, and the heat in Alec's gut was growing with anticipation. He tilted his hips up as Magnus took his cock in hand and moaned when he felt the blunt head breach his body. Magnus was pretty big, but he'd prepared Alec so well that it only took a few thrusts for him to bottom out, and Alec had never felt so fucking full in his life. Magnus leaned down to kiss him and he kissed him back eagerly, moaning against Magnus' lips as Magnus began to thrust shallowly. 

"God, Alexander, you feel incredible," Magnus murmured. "Is this good?" 

"Yeah. Fuck, right there," Alec gasped when he felt the head of Magnus' cock brush against his prostate. 

Magnus swallowed his sounds of pleasure, their tongues sliding against each other as Magnus fucked him deep and slow. The ache of being stretched around Magnus' cock as it slid in and out of him and the constant stimulation on his prostate was driving him crazy, the pleasure building and building but never seeming to crest, and it was so good that it was almost unbearable. Alec ran his hands up and down Magnus' arms and back, trying to remember all the tattoos in his mind's eye since he couldn't see them like this in a bid to resist the temptation to touch his cock, but when Magnus started kissing his way down Alec's neck and nipping gently at his pulse point, Alec gave in and started to stroke himself. 

"That's right, darling. Let me see you come," Magnus said, leaning back and pushing Alec's knees to his chest so that he could thrust harder and faster into Alec. 

Alec groaned, jerking himself off hard and rough the way he liked it. He was so close, and with Magnus watching him touch himself with hungry eyes while he pounded Alec's ass, Alec knew even before it hit him that it was going to be one hell of an orgasm. 

"Magnus!" Alec gasped, and came into his fist so hard that his vision went white. 

Magnus fucked him all the way through it, his rhythm faltering just as it was starting to get too much for Alec. He thrust deep inside Alec, mouth falling open with a low groan of pleasure as he came inside Alec, and Alec echoed his moan as Magnus ground his hips into him to ride out his own aftershocks.

For the while after that, Alec could only lie there trying to catch his breath, so fucked out that he only stirred when Magnus pulled out of him. "Why did I insist on waiting so long to do this?" he grumbled at the ceiling. 

Magnus laughed, then leaned down to kiss him. 

\--

Alec knew it would be obvious to his siblings that things had changed between him and Magnus. He ignored their smug grins very pointedly when he and Magnus arrived at the airport together, and pretended not to notice Jace whispering to Clary and Izzy whispering to Maia while Magnus just hid his smile. He had opted to keep to separate rooms, at least for the duration of the Grand Prix, and he and Magnus were careful even with casual touches in case of paparazzi hanging around. But on the plane he judged it safe enough to hold hands with Magnus since they were sitting next to each other, and it was little things like these that Alec knew would keep him going.

One race was a test of mental and physical stamina. A Grand Prix event, which consisted of four practices races and one qualifying race before the actual race, all within three days, was a trial by fire. The Qatar Grand Prixat the Losail Circuit had the added challenge of sweltering temperatures in the day, with the sun so hot that the air above the roads shimmered with a heat haze, and sharp drops of temperature in the evenings. One practice session, the qualifying race, and the actual race would be held at night, and Alec knew from experience that even with the stark floodlights around the track, the shadows cast by rapidly moving bikes and the disorienting darkness beyond the arena could be very distracting.

Their strategy had been to downplay Magnus' talents for all the practice and qualifying races - making Alec seem like the bigger threat to Jonathan at first by keeping right at his heel. Magnus would stay comfortably in the third or fourth overall position, and only show the true extent of his abilities at the actual race. For the most part, they dodged tricky questions at the press conference right before the start of the Grand Prix and Alec forced himself to - well, not smile at Jonathan, because that was beyond him - but try very hard not to look like he wanted to break Jonathan's nose with his fist every time they were in the same vicinity. 

It worked. Jonathan had always seen Alec as the weaker rival compared to Jace, and when Alec never seemed to be able to overtake him in the practice sessions, his smile grew wider every time he saw them. 

The look on Jonathan's face when Magnus and Alec crept up on him in the last lap of the actual race and stole the top two spots from right under his nose was priceless. But it was nothing compared to the apoplectic rage he flew into when Jace was revealed to be the coach for the team and held Clary's hand throughout the press conference, then blew Jonathan a kiss when they left. 

"One down, eighteen more to go," Alec reminded all of them while the core team was celebrating over their third bottle of champagne in Jace's hotel room. 

“Jesus fuckin' christ, Alec. Unclench and let the rest of us breathe for five minutes," Jace complained loudly, his speech a little slurred. 

"Oh, don't worry. I think I can see to it that Alexander loosens up a bit," Magnus murmured, so softly that only Alec could hear him, and Alec was glad that he'd drunk enough to hide his blush. 

Opening racing season with a resounding victory against Morgenstern was satisfying, but Alec was in for the long haul. And right now, with the first race done and the next Grand Prix being a month away, he planned to steal a bit of leisure time and go to some touristy spots with Magnus.

\--

Alec and Magnus parted ways from the rest of the team the next day - the rest of them would be flying home to New York, but Alec and Magnus would be staying in Doha, Qatar for a few more days. They had some security staff with them, and anyway Qatar was conservative so they were careful to be respectful. Despite the restrictions and lack of privacy, they had fun doing normal tourist stuff like visiting museums and culturally significant landmarks and shopping, and at night they shared a room where they could do whatever they wanted to as long as they kept the volume down. On the day that they were due to catch a flight back to New York, however, Alec received a call from Maryse.

“I’ve changed your flights. You’ll land in Chicago instead, and there’ll be a private plane waiting for you,” Maryse said.

“What happened?” Alec asked sharply.

Maryse hesitated. “Someone sent photos of you and Magnus to a tabloid, nothing really incriminating, but rumours are flying. But I don’t want you to worry too much about it - just come home safely with Magnus, and we’ll deal with it together.”

"I need to talk to Magnus. I'll call you back," Alec told her, clenching his jaw as he cut the call. His first instinct had been one of panic, but he took a few deep breaths, concentrating on the feeling of Magnus taking his hand quietly.

“Something wrong?”

“Jonathan,” Alec replied tersely. “He’s probably had someone tailing us over the last couple of days, taking photos of us.”

Magnus caught on immediately. “Friends can travel together, if that’s how you want to spin it. I won’t mind,” Magnus said lightly.

Alec shook his head vehemently. “Fuck Jonathan. He’s chosen the wrong bone to pick with me. My family has always been supportive of me, and just because I haven’t seen a need to tell the whole world about something that’s frankly none of their business, it doesn’t mean I’m ashamed of who I am or who I’m with.” He squeezed Magnus’ hand a little tighter. “Magnus, I’m not ashamed to be seen with you, alright?”

“Alright,” Magnus said with a smile, squeezing back. "Besides, power-couple against Jonathan Morgenstern is a much more exciting spin."

Alec gave him a small smile in return and steeled himself before calling his mom back.

"Sorry, Mom, we're going to stick to the plan and fly directly to New York,” he told her. "And when we step out, it’s going to be me and Magnus - together."


	7. Chapter 7

"You've got this," Izzy told Alec and Magnus firmly as she adjusted the collar of Alec’s polo shirt. 

Alec nodded and Magnus gave his hand a squeeze. Things had been a little crazy after they had stepped out holding hands at the airport to a few dozen reporters and photographers. Although they hadn’t released any sort of official statement, Alec felt that the fact that he and Magnus had tried to go about their normal lives despite the scrutiny from the paparazzi, including training and going out on dates, was a statement enough. But Alec didn't like being in the spotlight and he hated that such a big deal was being made of his private business. His mother had apparently fired a few board members who kicked up a fuss about him coming out, some LGBTQ organisations kept calling to ask if Alec and Magnus would be interested in participating in this activity or that campaign and Alec kept having to let them down because he didn’t have the time for that during racing season, and Jace kept making stupid jokes like suggesting that they should call Jonathan up to ask for the contacts of his photographer and hire them for Alec and Magnus’ future wedding photoshoot. It was driving Alec up the wall.

All he wanted to do was have a quiet meal with Magnus without having to deal with half a dozen people lurking outside the restaurant, and concentrate on training for his next race, but distraction was obviously Jonathan Morgenstern’s strategy. It just made Alec more determined to wipe the floor with Jonathan’s ass the next time he saw him.

Today was the first day of the Grand Prix at the Termas de Río Hondo Circuit in Argentina - which meant a press conference and nosy questions Alec might not be able to avoid. His family would be in the audience but he had no doubt that Jonathan had planted some reporters to pose nasty questions that would turn the whole thing into a fiasco, and it was the kind of emotional and psychological attack that could rattle someone who actually gave a flying fuck about what the tabloids were saying. Alec squared his shoulders when the moderator of the panel called his and Magnus’ names and walked out to a blinding blast of flashlights going off, and when they took their seats next to each other Magnus shifted his chair a little closer to Alec and winked at the audience, which drew a few laughs.

Just as Alec expected, when all the racers were seated and introductions had been made, the first person who stood up asked point-blank: "This quite a difficult question. There have been no openly homosexual MotoGP riders before Alec Lightwood and Magnus Bane admitted that they were together. I want to hear the thoughts from everyone else - does it make you uncomfortable that there are two homosexuals sitting right here next to you?”

There was an uproar from the audience at that, not all of it from the Lightwood team. Alec didn't bother looking around at the reactions of the other racers, but he could feel Jonathan's eyes on them from the other end of the table. The moderator was at a loss and the person who had posed the question was arguing with everyone else, and it looked like this press conference was going to be a disaster. 

Magnus leaned forward to the microphone. "Actually, if I may, I want to clarify something important." He waited until he'd gotten everyone's attention, then said, "I'm bisexual, not gay. There's a difference," he said with a smile. "And when a guy like Alexander comes along... can you really blame me?" 

There was some laughter at that and the moderator should have taken the opportunity to steer away from the question and get the press conference back on track, but to Alec’s annoyance he turned around and asked the other racers, “So, do you guys have a problem with it?”

But to Alec’s gratification, everyone other than Jonathan shook their heads and shrugged. “It’s about the race. Not a problem, respect to everyone,” one of them answered in halting English.

“Hey, you’ve seen these fellows on the track. Maybe I should give it a go and try batting for the other team as well,” another racer quipped, and everyone laughed. They moved on to other questions and the press conference ended with no further incident.

\--

After that, Jonathan kept his distance from them, which Alec thought was a smart move because Izzy was itching to break his face and Maia would probably hold him down for her while she did it. Now that Jonathan knew how good Magnus was, they had to change their strategy - Magnus and Alec concentrated on familiarising themselves with the track and tried not to go head-to-head with Jonathan even if it meant letting him win the practice races. But Jonathan wasn’t stupid and definitely knew that they weren’t riding at full potential, so Alec had fallen back to old habits of hanging back so he could keep an eye out for Magnus even though it meant he narrowly avoided getting hit with a penalty point for deliberate slow riding. 

They made their way through four practice races with no trouble. On the afternoon of the qualifying race, it began to rain. 

The race had been scheduled for 3.45pm, but the rain was so heavy that it had to be delayed by an hour, then another half an hour, and by then they were losing daylight so it was decided that the race would go ahead since it was just drizzling. Alec scowled as Izzy and Maia’s team changed the tyres on their bikes to slicks. They had seen the weather forecast of course, but he had been hoping that rain would come after the race; he had never been fond of wet races in the first place and he could still see puddles on the track, and those were no joke when you were going faster than a bullet train.

Alec knew something was up when, instead of fighting to get right in front of the pack as he usually did, Jonathan Morgenstern decided to hang back. This wasn’t a practice race but a proper qualifying round, and Magnus had already zoomed off ahead to lead the race while Jonathan was keeping level with Alec, speeding up when Alec sped up and slowing down when Alec slowed down. He assumed Jonathan was trying to cut him off from Magnus, so when Jonathan tried to cut inside Alec’s path, Alec did his best to block him from overtaking. This went on for two laps before Jonathan came up really close and Alec only realised what Jonathan was trying to do a split second too late - as they dropped to carve the corner, Jonathan nudged Alec’s bike with his foot. The track was too wet and Alec was taller and broader than Jonathan, which had always been a disadvantage for him when they had to hug the bike low. Alec pulled himself out of the lean and his bike began to wobble violently, struggling to stabilise itself on the wet asphalt, and even though Alec tried his best to stay loose and ride it out, it was like trying to hang on to a bucking bronco. Alec barely had time to react before he was flung clear off his bike. 

For one heart-stopping moment, Alec saw his own inexorable trajectory towards the ground in high-definition and slow-motion as he flew through the air, then time sped up. Alec had the presence of mind to curl up but his shoulder took the full impact when he slammed hard on the asphalt before he went skidding across the entire width of the track, and it was only sheer dumb luck that he wasn’t hit by another racer or his own bike before he managed to roll to the safety of the grassy run-off area. 

The crowd was booing Jonathan, and Alec saw him getting flagged by a race official, but Alec knew that at the most Jonathan would get a penalty point and get sent a few places backwards on the grid - a worthy gamble if he managed to take Alec out of the competition entirely. So Alec doggedly dragged his bike back upright, waving off the medics that were coming up to him. His bike was scratched up on one side but he could start it fine, so he got on it and got back into the race.

In the end, Alec managed to scrape his way into 12th place on the starting grid. Jonathan had been moved twelve places back, putting him behind Alec at 14th place, but to Alec's surprise, Magnus had performed quite badly as well, and ended at 7th place.

"What happened?" he asked Magnus when they were back at the hotel after the post-qualifying press conference. 

" _What happened?_ Are you fucking kidding me, you crashed and got back on that bike like a crazy person," Jace snapped. When he’d gotten back to the pit box, his siblings' faces had been very pale but Jace in particular had gone very quiet and had refused to speak to anyone until they were back at the hotel and Clary had personally done a checkup for Alec and assured him that Alec's injuries were mostly superficial. 

“I’m fine. It’s better than it looks,” Alec insisted. 

He had his shirt off and Magnus was rubbing in some sort of traditional herbal liniment for bruises which generated a comfortable warmth that seemed to soak into his bones, but his whole shoulder was a very nasty shade of purple. "I should be ok to race tomorrow. Iz, do you think I can still use today's bike instead of the spare?" 

Magnus' hands stilled. 

"Alec, have you lost your mind? You can't race in this state," Izzy protested. 

"It'll be fine tomorrow. I feel better already," Alec said. Clary opened her mouth to contradict him but Jace beat her to the punch. 

"Don't be an idiot, it's going to hurt like a bitch tomorrow and you know it," Jace said. "Why are you so eager to get out on that track and get yourself killed anyway? This isn't like you."

“I’m not letting Magnus go out there on that track alone, not when Jonathan is obviously out for blood,” Alec said flatly. 

Jonathan had come around to apologise in front of all the media at the press conference for what he insisted had been ‘an honest mistake’ and had guaranteed that it wouldn't happen again, then made a throwaway remark that at least Alec had been lucky enough that his injuries hadn't been as severe as Jace's. If Magnus hadn’t been holding his arm, he might have decked Jonathan right there.

“Alexander.” Magnus knelt down in front of him so he could face him squarely. “I told you, it’s not your job to protect me. I can take care of myself and Jonathan’s tricks are nothing compared to the things I’ve seen in street racing.”

“What were you going do anyway if Jonathan tried to crowd Magnus off the track the way he crowded you today? Crash into him first?” Izzy demanded.

“That’s one way to stop him,” Alec muttered.

“Alexander!” Magnus gasped, aghast. 

“If you go out there on that track tomorrow in this state, you’re just going to be a distraction for Magnus,” Jace said firmly. “Sit out tomorrow’s race, you hear me? And I’m saying this as your coach, so you’d better fucking listen. We _will_ tie you to the bed if that’s what it takes."

Magnus didn’t even try to make a sex joke out of that, which was a sign of how upset he was. Alec clenched his jaw but everyone looked so worried that he eventually caved and they all heaved a sigh of relief when he gave a curt nod and promised to pull out of the race. 

\--

The weather the next day was gloomy and cloudy but the rain refused to fall, leaving the air thick and humid. Alec had to concede that there was no way he would have been able to race since he couldn't even raise his right arm, but it didn't make him feel any less helpless about having to stay in the pit box. 

Magnus was cleaning the visor of his helmet as Izzy and Maia did the final checks on his bike personally - an extra safety precaution they were taking, which also included making sure nobody else was allowed near Magnus other than the core team. And there were photographers all around of course, but before Magnus put his helmet on, Alec caught his wrist lightly and pulled him in for a kiss amidst a small explosion of camera flashes going off. 

"I love you," Alec said in a low voice, only for Magnus' ears. 

Magnus smiled, looking very surprised but pleased. "And I love you too."

Alec hated that it sounded so much like he was saying goodbye, so he tried to force out a smile. "Good luck," he told Magnus, voice a little rough.

"Don't worry, Alexander. My stamina is much better now, thanks to you," Magnus joked, drawing out a more genuine smile from Alec.

Then Alec had to let Magnus go off and take his position on the grid, escorted by Maia, and Alec went back inside the pit box to watch the flag-off on the screens so Jonathan Morgenstern wouldn't have the satisfaction of seeing him relegated to the sidelines. (On the other hand, Clary had wheeled Jace out to watch the flag-off from outside, because Jonathan wasn’t the only one who could play a game of distraction.)

Izzy took his hand quietly, her hands calloused from all the hours she'd put into building their engines. "Magnus is a much better rider than Jonathan."

He squeezed her hand back, and they kept their eyes glued to the screen even as Maia returned to the pit box, watching the riders do their warm-up lap and return to the starting grid.

The revving of twenty-three bikes filled the air like thunder.

“ _Round two of the MotoGP World Championship starts right here, twenty-four laps of pure adrenaline, about to get underway! And they’re off! Blackthorn struggling to keep his pole position..._ " 

Magnus zoomed off on a strong start, taking the lead before the second lap was over. Jonathan was closing in gradually but remained around five places behind Magnus, and Alec was expecting foul play. Sure enough, at the start of the last six of twenty-four laps, Magnus began to falter a little - his usual weak point when Alec wasn't there to pace him, and Jonathan edged a little closer. There were only two riders between Magnus and Jonathan now, and when they went around the next corner, Jonathan cut inside recklessly and one rider wobbled wide. 

"What is he playing at? Doesn't he get penalty points for that?" Maia asked. 

"I don't think he really cares about winning this particular Grand Prix - not if he can cause enough damage to our team," Izzy said tactfully but she needn't have minced words around Alec - Jonathan obviously intended to take Magnus out of the competition for good. 

Alec's nails were biting into his palm as he watched Jonathan send another racer off track by crowding too close to him, playing a game of chicken where he fully expected the other rider to swerve out of his way to avoid a collision and always won the gamble. Magnus had thankfully caught on to Jonathan closing in on him and had stepped up his game, and ironically the pressure Jonathan was putting on Magnus was spurring Magnus to display some impressive riding skills out there on the track, possibly the best Alec had ever seen from him. 

The difference in their talent and skill levels could not have been more apparent. Jonathan was a loose cannon, reckless and volatile, and while Magnus was also making some risky moves to keep ahead of Jonathan, it was clear that he was completely in control, the epitome of grace and fearlessness. There was even a hint of cheekiness in the way he danced away from Jonathan as he defended his lead, and Alec could just imagine Jonathan’s frustration. At the final lap, Jonathan snapped. His bike did a weird lurch forward, suddenly putting him at level with Magnus, then, to Alec’s horror, Jonathan reached out towards Magnus and tried to grab his brake lever. 

“What the hell?” Izzy gasped.

“That fucking cheating scum, he’s using nitrous oxide to give himself a boost!” Maia yelled over the chaos in the pit box.

But Alec wasn’t paying attention to them. Magnus had swerved sharply to avoid Jonathan and regained his balance just in time. Race officials were running after them in the sidelines and one was waving a black flag in front of Jonathan’s number, but Jonathan wasn’t stopping so Magnus couldn’t risk stopping either with Jonathan hot on his heels. As they approached the final corner in the circuit before the home stretch, Jonathan tried to cut inside Magnus’ path, but Magnus refused to yield. Magnus was leaning so hard into the corner that his elbows were brushing the track and his bike had dropped to an impossible angle, but somehow he wasn’t wiping out. Alec held his breath until Magnus pulled his bike upright and crossed the finish line in a clear victory against Jonathan.

“Yes!” Izzy and Maia screamed in unison, punching the air.

Alec was running out to the track even before the announcer declared the official results of the race. They had managed to subdue Jonathan, who was putting up a fight, but Alec’s only thought was to get to Magnus. The moment Magnus got off his bike, Alec was there to hug him tight, followed closely by Izzy and Maia.

“You did it! You crazy sonofabitch, you did it!" Jace yelled as he and Clary joined the tangle of people hugging Magnus - all the people Alec had come to hold dear to his heart, even Clary. 

Everything that followed after that was usually a blur of adrenaline for Alec - of people congratulating them, press interviews, and too much champagne. But this time, three moments stood out for Alec, and he would probably remember exactly how he had felt in those moments for the rest of his life: first, the satisfaction when he first heard the news that Jonathan was facing a lifetime ban from racing, and second, the soaring pride he felt when Magnus climbed onto the top step of the podium to receive his hard-earned trophy. 

And the last, was when he finally had a quiet moment with Magnus away from everyone as Magnus headed off to the changing room to get out of his racing suit, the two of them walking in pace with each other down the narrow corridor.

“Now that you’ve defeated your arch-nemesis and had your revenge for Jace, what’s next?” Magnus joked, but Alec heard the underlying question. After all, that's why they had asked Magnus to join the team. 

“Seventeen more Grand Prix races to win,” Alec replied seriously.

“And then?”

“Seventeen more countries to visit with you. Well, sixteen, Texas doesn’t count," Alec said, putting his good arm around Magnus' waist. 

Magnus laughed, leaning into his touch. “And then?”

“I don’t know,” Alec said, smiling at Magnus. “I guess we’ll figure it out together."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End.
> 
> Thank you for coming along for the ride, hope you guys had as much fun reading as I had writing! I'm on twitter @tethysea if you want to say hi. 
> 
> Until next time, XOXO.


End file.
